1. HireRight Releases 2026 Global Benchmark Report

A major data point for our industry went live today. HireRight’s new annual benchmark data highlights shifting workforce risks and candidate patterns.

  • The Discrepancy Hotspot: Employment verifications remain the area where background screeners globally uncover the most candidate inconsistencies.
  • Values vs. Costs: Interestingly, in both the EMEA and APAC regions, detecting applicant histories or behaviors that are "misaligned with corporate values" has officially outranked the simple financial "cost of a bad hire" as the top risk enterprise organizations are looking to mitigate.
  • Scale Factors: Enterprise-sized organizations are continuing to report the highest overall rates of candidate discrepancies compared to mid-market firms.

2. In-Depth Legal Guides to Washington HB 1747

With Washington State’s major Fair Chance Act overhaul taking effect yesterday, multiple legal analyses and industry guidebooks have been published breaking down the operational reality for CRAs and employers.

  • The "Show Your Work" Requirement: The articles emphasize that "blanket" exclusion policies are officially a massive litigation risk. Under the new guidelines, if a record exists, employers have to apply a rigid "Nature-Time-Nature" test (analyzing the nature of the offense, time passed, and the nature of the job duties) and explicitly document the job-related, legitimate business reason for a rejection.
  • Steep Statutory Fines: Legal alerts are warning compliance teams that penalties under HB 1747 are severe and escalate fast. The Washington Attorney General’s Office is enforcing civil penalties starting at $1,500 for a first offense, jumping to $3,000 for a second, and up to $15,000 for subsequent violations—with statutory damages payable directly to the impacted applicant.

3. Virginia & D.C. "Clean Slate" Sealing Deep-Dives

Fresh operational updates are circling regarding the execution of automatic record sealing. Virginia’s expansive Clean Slate provisions have reached their rollout phase, automatically sealing various older misdemeanors and low-level felonies.

  • The CRA Burden: The newly published compliance pieces emphasize that once these records are automatically sealed, they are strictly non-reportable. CRAs must ensure their data pipelines instantly filter out these scrubbed records to avoid immediate FCRA litigation risks, especially as Washington D.C. simultaneously pushes forward its phased implementation of the Second Chance expungement laws.

4. CFPB Directives on Fee Disclosures

On the technical administrative side, a reminder is making the rounds today regarding the updated Federal Register guidance on consumer file disclosures. The CFPB's mandated annual inflation adjustment caps the maximum charge a consumer reporting agency can levy on a consumer for a standard file disclosure (when they aren't otherwise entitled to a free one) at $16.00. Compliance advisories are urging operations managers to double-check that all automated system fee schedules match this threshold.