Under new federal regulations effective September 21, 2018, employers must now issue updated “Summary of Your Rights” forms mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In May 2018, Congress responded to several, high-profile data breaches by passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (“Act”). The Act adds new language to the Summary of Your Rights Form, explaining that a consumer can obtain a “security freeze” locking his or her account so that a Credit Reporting Agency may not release information on a credit report without the consumer’s authorization. The language is intended to make it more difficult for identity thieves to fraudulently open an account in a consumer’s name. Consumers also have the option of placing an initial or extended fraud alert on their account free of cost.

The new form is effective immediately, and employers should begin using it now to avoid gaps in compliance. However, the new regulations do temporarily permit continued use of the old Summary of Your Rights forms, provided a separate page containing the newly required information (i.e. the security freeze and fraud coverage rights) is provided at the same time.