On May 2, Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer signed a “ban the box” order applicable to state government positions but not private businesses or state contractors. Kansas agencies will no longer ask job applicants whether they have a criminal record during the initial application process. The state legislators argued that asking about criminal records on applications
On May 1, the city council of Wilmington, North Carolina unanimously approved a new “ban the box” ordinance for city employees. The ordinance mandates that candidates for employment will not be asked about their criminal history nor have a criminal background check conducted until a decision has been made to offer the candidate employment. According
In Echlin v. PeaceHealth, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a debt collection agency meaningfully participated in collection efforts even if it did not have authority to settle the account, did not receive payments, and was not involved in collection beyond sending two collection letters. Accordingly, the collection agency
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that Philadelphia’s ban on questioning job applicants about their salary history violates the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause. However, the judge ruled the city could stop employers from using salary history to determine pay.
The City of Philadelphia (the “City”)
In a short, straightforward opinion, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals joined its sister circuits that have applied a materiality standard to consumer claims of falsity and deception under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Consumer Paul Hill incurred a medical debt, and the creditor hired Accounts Receivable Services, LLC to collect the debt.
A district court in the Northern District of Illinois recently granted a debt collector’s motion to compel arbitration in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit even though it could not provide the original bill of sale to prove it purchased the debt and the concomitant rights to enforce the arbitration provision in the underlying
On April 13, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted summary judgment to defendants in a lawsuit brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and the Wisconsin Consumer Act (“WCA”). A copy of the Court’s opinion can be found here.
The case arises from a state court
A district court in Ohio dismissed a plaintiff’s claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., because he could not show that the report caused him an injury or that the background screening company failed to maintain reasonable procedures to ensure accuracy.
Plaintiff Thomas Black brought a putative class
A federal court in Nebraska threw out a putative class action suit brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., and the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 59-1601 et seq., holding that collection agencies could recover attorneys’ fees when using in-house counsel to file
A plaintiff’s putative class action suit in the Southern District of Ohio under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., has been thrown out because she could not show that the employer’s initial assessment or grading of her eligibility for the position was an adverse action.
On June 2, 2014,