Criminal gets settlement after background check finds convictions

If I am reading this right a man, who was convicted of a crime but had his record sealed, reached a settlement agreement with a company that hired him over what he claimed was an inaccurate background check.
In other words, the truth - that he was a criminal - should not have been uncovered by the company that hired him - to a $61K a year job.

http://wvrecord.com/news/261194-man-settles-suit-after-background-check-costs-him-job

I suspect this is one of those its-cheaper-to-settle-than-fight cases.

 

You're not reading that right. Per the terms of his "conviction," he wasn't convicted. His case was dismissed after some such time of good behavior, etc. In the eyes of the law he wasn't a criminal.

 

Ok ....

The company that hired him did a background check on him using a PI, who, uncoverd the "crime," instead of checking with the state of Montana and their criminal records.

 

He sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ... my quick read of it (and follow-up interpretations by the FTC) says he had a compelling case. The information contained in his report was erroneous ... in the eyes of the law his arrest/conviction really didn't happen ... and yet it was acted upon to his detriment. When the errors were corrected ... the story points out that his corrected report obtained by the PI showed no arrest/conviction ... the company he was applying to refused to recognize the corrected information.