Fired for asking about background check?

I work for a temp agency with a long term contract with a medical lab. I started with them Oct 7 and have a contract that specifies At Will employment. Last week they called the lab manager and told her in a background check there was a problem with me making threats to doctors. This is untrue.
I emailed and asked for a copy of the background check. My contact referred to the CFO of the company who replied that this is At Will--basically a threat. They provided the background check and it is clean. I called to find out where this "threat" issue came from and they refused to acknowledge it. Today I got an email firing me.
Is this retaliation?

1 answer  |  asked Oct 29, 2009 2:01 PM [EST]  |  applies to California

Answers (1)

Neil Klingshirn
This may have violated your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which also covers employee background checks. In a nutshell, an employer cannot use background check obtained from an agency to make an adverse employment decision, like terminate your employment, unless it obtains your consent first and discloses to you the background check results before taking the adverse action.

Here is the law: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/usc_sup_01_15_10_41_20_III.html

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Nov 2, 2009 6:54 PM [EST]

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