The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, expands the rights consumers have regarding their personal information. It changes how it can be used and stored. The CCPA was signed into law on June 28, 2018 and will take effect on January 1,2020. Even if you aren’t in California it will likely set a precedent, so expect to see similar laws being passed all over the country. New York already has one in the works, and Washington state proposed the Washington Privacy Act in January.

The new law will likely apply to Consumer Reporting Agencies as they “derive 50 percent or more of its annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal information.” The law defines personal information as “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.”

The definition is vague enough to include personal information needed for employment services like you would find on a job application, resume, employment contract, performance review or disciplinary record, and more. While it’s not listed, it can be assumed that this would be extrapolated to consumer reports and background checks.

Here is what the law includes and how True Hire will be compliant.

Consumers have the right to know what personal data is being collected about them.

True Hire already makes background check reports available to consumers upon request.

Consumers have the right to know whether their personal data is sold or disclosed and to whom. They also have the right to say no to the sale of personal data.

True Hire never sells consumer information. Occasionally we may disclose personal information to outside researchers. We keep track of all this information, and it’s available upon request.

Consumers have the right to request the deletion of their personal information obtained by a company.

In compliance with this law, True Hire will delete a person’s personal data on our secure servers when presented with a verified request.

A consumer has the right to sue a company should his personal data be breached or stolen.

True Hire keeps all consumer information behind the best firewall on our secured servers to ensure the safety of the data.

You should also be preparing for this new law if your company does business in California, and if one or more of the following applies

• annual gross revenue more than $25 million
• alone or in combination, annually buys, receives for the business’s commercial purposes, sells, or shares for commercial purposes, alone or in combination, the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices
• derives 50 percent or more of its annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal information

Not sure where to start? That’s OK. We created a CCPA Compliance Checklist for you!

Have questions about the CCPA? We can help please reach out! We’re happy to answer your questions.