Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: U.S. Postal Service job operation settles FTC charges, (Jul 18, 2013)

By Tobias J. Gillett, J.D., LL.M.

Individuals and corporations behind an operation that allegedly deceptively advertised nonexistent U.S. Postal Service jobs are prohibited from offering employment products or services under settlement orders entered by the federal district court for the Western District of Kentucky on June 28 and July 10, 2013, the FTC announced today (FTC v. Career Exams, Inc., FTC File No. 122 3256, Case No. 1:12-cv-00188-TBR).

The settlement orders against Career Exams, Inc. and Jeryn B. Lee and against O’Brien Marketing, Inc. and Derek Jackson bar the defendants from marketing or assisting others to market employment products or services, and from misrepresenting material facts about any products or services they may offer in future. The orders require the defendants to surrender approximately $45,000 in cash and investments, and impose a $4,865,734 judgment that will be partially suspended due to the defendants’ inability to pay the full amount. However, the full judgment will immediately come due if the defendants are found to misrepresented their financial condition.

According to the FTC’s complaint, the operation placed classified advertisements in the employment sections of local newspapers throughout the United States and on Internet job sites announcing purported U.S. Postal Service jobs. When a consumer called the toll-free number listed in the advertisements, telemarketers would ask the consumer a series of questions, at the end of which they would inform the consumer that he or she was “qualified.” The telemarketers would list alleged Postal Service jobs and wages associated with them, and tell the consumer that the jobs required passage of an exam. The telemarketers would offer exam materials for $120, and state that the cost would be refunded if the consumer did not pass the exam.

A consumer that paid the fee would receive general information about Postal Service jobs and a copy of a sample exam, as well as a copy of the refund policy. In numerous instances, the consumer would discover that the Postal Service was not hiring or offering examinations in their area, but would be unable to obtain a refund because the refund policy required documentation that the consumer had been rejected from federal employment or had failed the examination.

The complaint alleged that the operation’s activities constituted deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. The FTC’s charges were brought in November 2012 as part of the agency’s Operation Lost Opportunity.

Companies: Career Exams, Inc.; O’Brien Marketing, Inc.

News: ConsumerProtection FederaltradeCommissionNews