FCRA Disclosure Checker: the Stand-Alone Document Test
The FCRA disclosure requirements come down to one test: the page that tells an applicant you may get a background report must hold that disclosure and nothing else, apart from their signed permission. Paste your current form, answer two questions, and the checker marks every release, state notice, application question or certification riding along, with the rule that keeps it off the page. The text stays in your browser.
Use the tool
FCRA Disclosure Checker (Stand-Alone Test), vettedpad.com/tools/fcra-disclosure-checker. A screening aid, not legal advice.
Stand-alone document test
4 issues to fix
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i)
Checked 9 sentences: 4 carry extra content.
What to fix
Issue 1
Release or waiver of liability
Flagged sentence: I hereby release Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. and Example Screening Services, Inc. from any and all liability and claims arising from the procurement or use of this report.
The Ninth Circuit held that an employer violates the rule when it orders a report after putting a liability waiver in the same document as the disclosure, and that doing so is willful. FTC staff said the same in 1998.
Syed v. M-I, LLC, No. 14-17186 (9th Cir. 2017); FTC staff letter to Hauxwell (1998)
Fix: Delete it. FTC staff also wrote that employers may not require applicants to waive their FCRA rights at all.
Issue 2
State or city notice
Flagged sentence: California, Minnesota and Oklahoma applicants: check this box to receive a free copy of any report obtained on you.
State and city notices may be required, but they are separate documents. The federal text leaves no room for them on this page; where yours goes is a question for counsel.
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i)
Fix: Move it to its own page, handed over with the disclosure.
Issue 3
Employment terms (at-will, no contract)
Flagged sentence: I understand that my employment is at-will and may be ended at any time.
Terms of the job are not the disclosure. They pull the reader away from the one thing the page must say.
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i)
Fix: Put it in the offer letter, handbook acknowledgment or application.
Issue 4
Accuracy certification or falsification warning
Flagged sentence: I certify that the information on my application is true and complete, and I understand that any false statement is grounds for refusal to hire or dismissal.
A certification belongs to the application. It adds a second promise to a page that may hold only the disclosure.
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i)
Fix: Keep it on the job application, not on the disclosure.
Your text, marked up
Marked sentences carry the issue number. Sentences that give permission are tagged: the authorization may sit on the disclosure document.
DISCLOSURE REGARDING BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION
Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. may obtain a consumer report about you from a consumer reporting agency for employment purposes. The report may include criminal history, employment history, education and driving records. The consumer reporting agency is Example Screening Services, Inc., 100 Main Street, Suite 200, Springfield, IL 62701, (555) 010-0199.
[1] I hereby release Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. and Example Screening Services, Inc. from any and all liability and claims arising from the procurement or use of this report.
[2] California, Minnesota and Oklahoma applicants: check this box to receive a free copy of any report obtained on you.
[3] I understand that my employment is at-will and may be ended at any time.
[4] I certify that the information on my application is true and complete, and I understand that any false statement is grounds for refusal to hire or dismissal.
I authorize Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. to obtain a consumer report about me for employment purposes.(authorization, allowed)
What it checks
Before you order a background report on an applicant or employee, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a clear and conspicuous written disclosure that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, made “in a document that consists solely of the disclosure.” That is the stand-alone document rule, and it is where template forms most often go wrong: a release, a state notice or an application question rides along on the same page.
- Paste the text of the page the applicant reads, exactly as it appears, signature lines included.
- Say where it appears and when the applicant gets it.
- Read each issue: the flagged words are marked, with the rule and the fix beside them.
- Fix the form, paste it again, and keep a copy of the clean version with your hiring records.
The checker files each sentence under the first of these patterns it matches:
| What it flags | Typical wording | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Release or waiver of liability | “I release the employer and its agents from any and all liability.” | Syed v. M-I, LLC, No. 14-17186 (9th Cir. 2017); FTC staff letter to Hauxwell (1998) |
| Arbitration, jury or class-action terms | “Any dispute will be resolved by binding arbitration.” | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
| Accuracy certification or falsification warning | “I certify that my application is true and complete.” | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
| Job-application questions | “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” | FTC employer guidance (Oct 2016); 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
| Employment terms (at-will, no contract) | “My employment is at-will and may end at any time.” | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
| State or city notice | “California, Minnesota and Oklahoma applicants: check this box for a free copy.” | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
| Investigative report: nature and scope | “The nature and scope of the investigation will include interviews with references.” | FTC, 40 Years report (2011); 15 U.S.C. § 1681d |
| Other hiring paperwork | “I consent to a pre-employment drug test.” | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i) |
It also flags a page with no disclosure sentence at all, a disclosure placed inside the job application or among other forms, and a disclosure handed over after the report is ordered. Need a clean form to start from? The disclosure form builder writes one with nothing else on it.
What may stay on the disclosure page
“Solely” leaves very little room. What the statute, the Ninth Circuit and FTC staff have accepted is short:
- The authorization. The statute lets the person sign permission “on the document referred to in clause (i).” The Ninth Circuit called it “an express exception” to the solely requirement, and declined to read in others.
- Permission for the whole period of employment, if you want it, said clearly and conspicuously (FTC employer guidance).
- Minor details such as the screening firm's name and contact. FTC guidance allows “some minor additional information” only if it does not confuse or detract from the notice.
- Identifying details when the disclosure and authorization are combined: FTC staff named date of birth, Social Security number, driver's license number and addresses, and added that “the form should not contain any extraneous information” (Hauxwell letter, 1998).
- A brief description of the kinds of report. A February 1998 FTC staff letter, as quoted by the Ninth Circuit, said the disclosure may describe the “nature of the consumer reports” it covers.
- A one-line notice of intent to get an investigative consumer report, when references will be interviewed. The full notice goes separately; see what a consumer reporting agency does.
The disclosure must be clear and conspicuous, in writing, given before the report is ordered, in a document that consists solely of the disclosure. The written authorization may be on the same document.
15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)(A)(i)–(ii)
What to do
- Keep the disclosure to two or three plain sentences, plus the signature block.
- Move every other promise, notice or question to its own page.
- Give it, and get the signature, before you place the order.
Why a release on the page fails
The leading appeals decision is Syed v. M-I, LLC, decided by the Ninth Circuit in 2017. An employer had printed a liability release on the same form as the disclosure. The court held:
“a prospective employer violates Section 1681b(b)(2)(A) when it procures a job applicant's consumer report after including a liability waiver in the same document as the statutorily mandated disclosure.”
It rejected the argument that a waiver is a kind of authorization: “Authorization bestows, whereas waiver abdicates.” And because the word “solely” is clear, it held the violation willful. FTC staff had said the same thing years earlier: a 1997 letter wrote that the document “should include nothing more than the disclosure and the authorization for obtaining a consumer report,” and the 1998 Hauxwell letter wrote that a waiver in the form “will violate” the rule. The court noted those letters are informal and did not rely on them; it reached the result from the statute's text.
A willful FCRA violation can cost $100 to $1,000 per affected person in statutory damages, plus punitive damages and the other side's attorney's fees. One form handed to every applicant repeats the violation for each of them.
15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n(a), 1681o(a)
The disclosure is the first step of a longer sequence. The FCRA rules for employers walk through the rest, and the screening firm comparison sets firms against those steps.
Worked example
The text loaded above is a fictional logistics company's form, built the way many old templates are. With the answers left at “a page of its own” and “before we order,” the checker reads nine sentences and returns four issues:
| Sentence on the form | Result |
|---|---|
| Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. may obtain a consumer report about you … for employment purposes. | The disclosure |
| The report may include criminal history, employment history, education and driving records. | Kinds of report, kept |
| The consumer reporting agency is Example Screening Services, Inc. … | Minor detail, kept |
| I hereby release Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. … from any and all liability … | Issue 1: release |
| California, Minnesota and Oklahoma applicants: check this box … | Issue 2: state notice |
| I understand that my employment is at-will … | Issue 3: employment terms |
| I certify that the information on my application is true and complete … | Issue 4: certification |
| I authorize Harbor Point Logistics, Inc. to obtain a consumer report … | Authorization, allowed |
Press “Load a clean example” to see the other end: the two-sentence disclosure the builder writes comes back with no extraneous content found.
State notes
- Federal
The checker tests the federal rule only. Some states add their own notice; check your state's statute. Where a state notice goes is a question for your counsel, but the federal text gives it no place on the disclosure page, so the checker flags state wording wherever it finds it.
State and city rules also add steps after the report comes back. See the California Fair Chance Act, the NYC Fair Chance Act and ban the box laws by state. When a report leads toward a no, the adverse action timeline sets the dates.