To make a long story short, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been trying–with delayed implementation–to get the nation’s businesses that grant credit to protect their clients’ and consumers’ identities by requiring them to adhere to a Red Flags Rule.

The Red Flags refer to steps in the credit process that might indicate an identity-theft threat.

The nation’s financial institutions are already covered by the FTC rule, but for the rest of the nation’s businesses, implementation has been delayed until June 2010–for the third such delay.

The nation’s attorneys, however, launched an initial volley in getting a judge to rule that lawyers, even though they bill clients through the mail for services performed, do not per se grant credit.

This was followed quickly by the nation’s health care providers suing to obtain the same exemption.

Time for the Empire to Strike Back, and it did. This past week the FTC filed an appeal with the D.C. Circuit Court to overturn the decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that initially granted the attorneys’ exemption.

Don’t bate your breath waiting for a similar exemption for your business. Get a copy of Personnel Concepts’ Workplace Identity Theft Prevention Kit and set up your Red Flags compliance program today. Be prepared for the June 1 start date of the Red Flags Rule.