SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Jose ruled on Tuesday that LinkedIn Corp. doesn’t run afoul of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by providing premium members of its professional networking site with potential reference contacts for job candidates.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal of the Northern District of California knocked out the lawsuit which claimed that LinkedIn’s “References Searches” function violates the FCRA. In a 21-page opinion, Grewal concluded that LinkedIn can’t be considered a consumer reporting agency, as defined by the law, and that the reference reports it produces also don’t qualify as consumer reports. Grewal’s decision left open an opportunity for the plaintiffs to amend their lawsuit by May 19. LinkedIn’s paying premium members can use the searches to peruse their personal LinkedIn networks for a list of connections to people who’ve previously worked with a particular job candidate.
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