Full house to address proposed FCRA revisions - HR News - Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act

HR Magazine, Sept, 2003 by Bill Leonard

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (H.R. 2622) cleared a major hurdle in Congress July 24, when the House Committee on Financial Services approved the bill by a vote of 61-3. The proposed legislation includes the reauthorization of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and contains measures that would ensure the accuracy of personal credit reports and increase protections from identity theft.

The bill also would make changes to FCRA's Title VI in an effort to remove obstacles to workplace investigations created in 1999 when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued what is now known as the "Vail opinion letter." The FTC letter was in response to questions posed by Judy Vail, an attorney based in Portland, Ore., and stated that FCRA notification and disclosure requirements did apply whenever employers hired third-party organizations to investigate allegations of workplace sexual harassment.

The opinion letter caused an uproar among employers and attorneys who claimed that the FTC's position severely handicaps an employer's ability to conduct unbiased and impartial workplace investigations. Advocacy groups for employers and small businesses also say the opinion letter has had an adverse impact on smaller-sized employers that don't have the resources to conduct internal investigations of employee misconduct and therefore must depend on third-party investigators.

Revisions to FCRA Could Reduce Obstacles to Workplace Investigations

Since issuing the letter, the FTC officials have reaffirmed the opinion and have testified at several Congressional hearings saying they oppose changes to FCRA that would weaken or invalidate the Vail letter. Organized labor also has lobbied against any proposals to amend Title VI.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., attempted to derail the most recent proposed changes by offering an amendment to the pending legislation. The amendment, however, was defeated in a voice vote, and the bill passed the committee with obvious bipartisan support.

H.R. 2622, as passed by the committee, would amend Title VI of FCRA to exclude any investigation "involving the suspected misconduct relating to employment" from the definition of a consumer report. The bill, however, would require an employer to provide an investigation summary, excluding specific sources of the information, if the results of the investigation lead an employer to take disciplinary action against the employee.

The bill should come up for debate before the full House in early September, when Congress returns from its month long summer recess. A Senate version of the FCRA reauthorization bill has not been introduced.