A seemingly flaw-focused background service provided inaccurate, reputation-tainting information to employers at an Iowa healthcare center. Jennifer Malatek, a registered nurse for 24 years, was revoked of her nursing position at Aveanna Healthcare due to inaccurate information provided by First Advantage Background Services. Malatek is now suing First Advantage for allegedly violating the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, a law that regulates the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of background checks made for employment purposes.
Malatek tested positive for marijuana use in 2014, which resulted in a suspended license. Malatek’s license was fully restored in 2016, as she met all the terms and requirements needed to resume her career as a nurse. Years went by and everything was smooth sailing for Malatek—until a devastating obstacle caused trouble waters in February 2022. Malatek was hired for a nursing position with Aveanna Healthcare in November 2021 on the assumption that she’d pass the background check. Once Aveanna received Malatek’s results in February, they revoked the job offer due to an invalid multistate nursing license. Aveanna rescinded their job offer based on false information provided by First Advantage, which prompted Malatek to call for a copy of the background check reported by the company. Not only did it inaccurately indicate an invalid multistate license, it reporated eight separate licensing sanctions on her record. Malatek soon filed a lawsuit against the company on damages for job denial, financial instability, emotional distress, damages to her reputation, and more. Claims from Malatek’s lawsuit against First Advantage are displayed in the following quote:
“Instead of employing reasonable procedures, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, (First Advantage) blindly collects information from unreliable third-party vendors to repackage and sell in its own employment screening products…[First Advantage] has been sued under the FCRA by consumers in the past for inaccurately reporting professional license information and/or disciplinary history.”
A rehabilitated individual’s restored qualifications are meaningless if our nation’s “trusted services” fail to report accurate information. If your background check is keeping you from obtaining a license, pursuing your job of choice, or finding stable housing, it’s time to take action with help from Easy Expunctions. Call our record-clearing experts at (866) 775-9983 or visit our website at EasyExpunctions.com for more information on a seamless and affordable expunction process.