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Credit report should not be used by employers, lawmakers sayA new bill introduced by some Democrats in the House of Representatives aims to disallow employers from using data contained on credit reports to help make hiring decisions. H.R. 3149, the Equal Employment for All Act, is sponsored by Representatives Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Luis Gutierrez of Illinois. Speaking at the bill's launch, the two congressmen raised concerns about the mounting financial pressures faced by people who are coping with unexpected difficulties, such as job loss and medical bills. Gutierrez pointed out that the major obstacle standing in the way of some people's financial recovery is securing employment. But if they continue to be denied a job because of their credit report, it could lead to a vicious cycle. "Right now the number of U.S. employers conducting pre-employment credit checks is on the rise and too many Americans are caught in the preventable cycle of debt," Gutierrez said. "They have been hit hard by an economy in crisis, they have fallen into bad credit and as a result they cannot do the one thing that would enable them to climb out - get a job." The bill does make allowances for credit scores to be checked within some limited categories of employment, such as jobs involving national security or a large amount of financial responsibility. However, Gutierrez emphasized that those are exceptions rather than the rule, and said that the ability to perform most roles is unrelated to a person's credit history. Those who defend the practice of employer credit checks say that human resource departments do not get access to account numbers or credit scores and are simply looking for red flags, according to U.S. News & World Report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act currently states that employers must let job candidates know if a credit check is part of the screening process. If someone is denied based on the information in their credit report, they can dispute the information.
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