Sterling background check cost you the job?

Who Sterling is and who relies on its reports

Sterling is an employment background screening company. Employers order Sterling reports on job candidates, and those reports often turn on criminal history pulled from court records.

Sterling is no longer independent. First Advantage, an Atlanta-based background screening company, completed its acquisition of Sterling Check Corp. on October 31, 2024, in a transaction valued at $2.2 billion including Sterling’s debt. Sterling’s own website now says Sterling is a First Advantage company. If a Sterling report cost you a job, the company behind it today is part of First Advantage.

The CFPB’s 2019 action against Sterling

In November 2019, before the merger, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a complaint against Sterling Infosystems, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the court entered a stipulated judgment. The CFPB alleged that Sterling:

• did not use reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the information in its reports;
• did not maintain strict procedures to keep public-record information complete and up to date, and did not notify consumers when it reported that information; and
• reported criminal history and other adverse information outside the reporting period the FCRA allows.

The judgment required $6 million in relief to affected consumers and a $2.5 million civil money penalty, plus measures to prevent the alleged conduct from recurring.

Errors that show up on Sterling reports

The problems the CFPB described are the same ones that cost candidates jobs:

• Wrong-person records. A criminal case belonging to someone with a similar name is attached to your report.
• Incomplete case histories. A charge appears, but the dismissal, acquittal, reduction or expungement that followed does not.
• Obsolete records. Arrests and other non-conviction records older than seven years show up anyway.
• Duplicate entries. The same case appears several times, as though you had multiple offenses.
• Verification errors. Past jobs or degrees reported as unverified or with the wrong dates.

How to dispute a Sterling report

1. Get the report. If an employer is considering rejecting you because of a Sterling report, it generally must send you a copy and a summary of your rights first. If you did not receive one, ask the employer which company ran your check and request your report from that company.
2. Use the official dispute channel. Sterling’s website directs candidates to First Advantage support resources, and its privacy center now redirects to First Advantage’s. First Advantage accepts U.S. disputes through its official dispute page, which asks for the organization that requested your check and the type of record you are disputing. Make sure to state that the report was a Sterling report.
3. Be exact. Identify each wrong record by case number, court and date, and explain what is wrong.
4. Attach proof. Court dispositions, expungement or sealing orders, a copy of your ID, or documents showing the record belongs to someone else.
5. Tell the employer. Let the employer know you have disputed and ask it to hold the position or reconsider once the report is corrected.
6. Keep copies of everything. The report, the pre-adverse and adverse action letters, the dispute and any confirmation, and every response.
7. Watch the deadline. A consumer reporting agency generally must complete its reinvestigation within 30 days of receiving your dispute (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)).

Your rights under the FCRA

• Accuracy (§ 1681e(b)). Sterling must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, including how it matches court records to people.
• Public records for employment (§ 1681k). When reporting public-record information for employment that is likely to have an adverse effect, Sterling must either notify you at the time or maintain strict procedures to ensure the information is complete and up to date.
• Pre-adverse action notice (§ 1681b(b)(3)). The employer generally must give you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights before taking adverse action, giving you a chance to point out errors.
• Reinvestigation (§ 1681i). Disputed information must be reasonably reinvestigated and corrected or deleted if it is inaccurate, incomplete or cannot be verified.
• Reporting time limits (§ 1681c). Arrest records and other adverse non-conviction information generally cannot be reported after seven years. Convictions are not covered by that federal limit, though some states restrict them.
• File disclosure (§ 1681g). You have the right to all the information in your file, its sources, and who received your report for employment purposes in the past two years.

What you may recover

If the FCRA was negligently violated, you may recover actual damages, such as lost wages, a lost job offer and emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). If the violation was willful, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages, and fees and costs (§ 1681n).

FCRA Attorneys takes these cases on contingency. There is no fee unless we win.

Get a free case review

Do not let the deadline pass. An FCRA lawsuit generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and within five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If a Sterling background check cost you a job, keep the report, the employer’s letters and your dispute, and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys has offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, and files FCRA cases in federal court nationwide, directly or with local counsel.

Questions about suing Sterling

Can I sue Sterling?

Yes, if the facts support a claim. Sterling prepares consumer reports for employment purposes, which makes it a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA. Claims typically involve inaccurate reporting without reasonable procedures, failure to keep public records complete and up to date, or failure to reasonably reinvestigate a dispute.

Sterling is part of First Advantage now. Who do I sue?

First Advantage completed its acquisition of Sterling Check Corp. on October 31, 2024. The right defendant depends on which legal entity prepared and sold your report and when. That is something a lawyer can determine from your report, your adverse action notice and the dispute correspondence.

The employer already filled the job. Is it too late?

Not necessarily. A lost job is a common form of actual damages in FCRA cases, and you can still dispute the report so it does not hurt you with the next employer. The deadline to sue is generally two years from discovering the violation and five years from when it happened.

What will a lawyer cost?

FCRA Attorneys works on contingency, with no fee unless we win. The FCRA allows a successful consumer to recover attorney's fees and costs from the company that violated it.

Related reading

• Got a Pre-Adverse Action Notice? What It Means and What to Do Next
• Background Check Dispute Letter: What to Write, What to Attach
• How to Fix a Background Check Error, Step by Step

Sources

• First Advantage press release (SEC Exhibit 99.1): First Advantage Completes Acquisition of Sterling Check for $2.2 Billion (October 31, 2024)
• Sterling official website ("Sterling is now a First Advantage company")
• CFPB enforcement action: Sterling Infosystems, Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2019)
• Sterling privacy center (now redirects to First Advantage Privacy Center)
• First Advantage official U.S. dispute page

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.