Dish/Sterling FCRA Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval

A federal judge tentatively signed off on a settlement in a class-action complaint alleging Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violations by Dish Network and background check company Sterling Infosystems, said a preliminary settlement approval order (in Pacer) filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Judge Lorna Schofield said the settlement authorization class will be all Dish contractor technicians who were subject to a Dish consumer report after Nov. 30, 2010, and who received forms 2 or 3 before Dish received the summary consumer report but weren't provided any other relevant forms. The adverse action class will be all Dish contractor technicians or technician applicants whose summary consumer reports were given to Dish and who were adjudicated as "high" risk after Nov. 30, 2010.A final hearing Jan. 17 will determine whether the final settlement is fair and to consider any objections. The 2012 lawsuit alleges Dish and background check company Sterling violated the federal FCRA in their use of credit reports to do background checks on prospective employees or subcontractors (see 1512160017). The joint settlement motion (in Pacer) filed in August said Dish and Sterling agreed to put $1.175 million into a settlement fund, with the money minus fees and expenses to be distributed pro rata to settlement class members who submit claim forms, with adverse action class members receiving allocations of six times the amount that goes to authorization class members.