Elizabeth Warren: Stop Employers From Conducting Credit Checks

[Incorruptible]

Elizabeth Warren has proposed a new bill that wouldn't allow employers to reject applicants based on their credit scores. It also wouldn't require applicants to go through credit checks.

The government has no right to get involved with this. Credit checks many times are necessary to ensure the proper applicants are chosen. These are private businesses and if they want stricter hiring measures then they should be able to have them.

Do you support this bill? Does the government have the right to get involved with the hiring process?

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/17/pf/employer-credit-checks/

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I do support this bill, she is right the person with a poor credit history for whatever the reason is needs work. I also believe her that nobody has shown a link between good employee's and credit scores.
People used to say this about women and minorities too, so yes I do believe its Governments job to make a fair work place and protect privacy.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

 

[Moonbeam]

I do support this bill, she is right the person with a poor credit history for whatever the reason is needs work. I also believe her that nobody has shown a link between good employee's and credit scores.
People used to say this about women and minorities too, so yes I do believe its Governments job to make a fair work place and protect privacy.

Yup, the government is already deeply involved. There are all kinds of things you can't reject people from employment for. Bigots aren't supposed to hire on the basis of bigotry and, of course that's always invisible to bigots. That's why we make laws as a consensus process to eliminate as much bigotry as we can. This is just another area where the bigots have had free reign and the non-bigot want to fix it.

 

[BUnit1701]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

 

[JEDIYoda]

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

may be true but their reasons are BS

 

[sandorski]

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

Then they should be able to check to see if the potential Employee is a Gun Owner. Just in case you piss them off and they go on a Shooting Spree.

 

[nehalem256]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

If you are irresponsible with your money why would I trust you with mine? 😕

 

[1prophet]

I do support this bill, she is right the person with a poor credit history for whatever the reason is needs work. I also believe her that nobody has shown a link between good employee's and credit scores.
People used to say this about women and minorities too, so yes I do believe its Governments job to make a fair work place and protect privacy.

As long as they include lawsuit protection in the bill why not?

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/25/6-myths-credit-report-checks-employers/

Myth No. 4: Employers use credit checks to discriminate.
According to Smith-Valentine, a driving force behind credit checks is litigation protection. "If an employee does something allegedly wrong and they get sued, the attorney will get their file," says Smith-Valentine. "If the company did not do an appropriate background check, they can use it at trial."


Indeed, Smith-Valentine's claims are confirmed by the Human Resource Management report: companies conduct credit background checks most often to offset theft and embezzlement, and after that to reduce liability for negligent hiring.


"The reason I check credit is that employees of our foundation are representatives of our founders, and we each have a fiduciary responsibility," says Ty Ann Osborn, director of human resources for the the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. "I'd rather be in the position of not hiring someone because of what I found than having to explain why I did, and they did something wrong."


Be aware though, that in the future, companies may even be prohibited

from accessing your report at all if a bill currently in Congress -- the Equal Employment For All Act -- becomes law. The bill would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to limit employers' ability to check credit reports and to use them against prospective and current employees.
Truth: Employers pull reports to protect themselves.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Then they should be able to check to see if the potential Employee is a Gun Owner. Just in case you piss them off and they go on a Shooting Spree.

Or drives a big truck they could use to drive into the office.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

Has there been any study done which shows that propensity to embezzlement is inversely proportional to credit score? Being bad with personal finance does not inherently make someone more likely to steal in the same way that having excellent personal financial management does not preclude someone from stealing. Bernie Madoff had an excellent credit score, but he still managed to steal more than every poor person in America combined.

 

[compuwiz1]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

Some people never paid a bill in their lives. If they blatantly opened credit accounts with no evidence of any intention of repaying them, they are thieves. If they have a bunch of bounced checks to the pizza joint which have been turned over to collections, they are hungry thieves. As an employer the content of their credit will give me insight as to whether I would have reason to not trust that employee with matters concerning my business's financial well being. Where I work, we run credit, criminal background, dmv and drug tests.

 

[zinfamous]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

indeed.

here's a thought--let's ensure that people with terrible credit retain that terrible credit by making it harder and harder for them to get legitimate work. Let's just keep that vicious circle going, shall we? After all, poor people are poor only because they want to be, right?


Incorrigible--you are an absolute tool

 

[zinfamous]

Some people never paid a bill in their lives. If they blatantly opened credit accounts with no evidence of any intention of repaying them, they are thieves. If they have a bunch of bounced checks to the pizza joint which have been turned over to collections, they are hungry thieves. As an employer the content of their credit will give me insight as to whether I would have reason to not trust that employee with matters concerning my business's financial well being. Where I work, we run credit, criminal background, dmv and drug tests.

Yes, because the only possible reasoning behind bad credit is that the individual is a criminal.

Uh huh.

 

[Incorruptible]

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

This is why it's needed. You can't just hire anyone for certain positions with very sensitive information and it's necessary to protect the company.

 

[JimKiler]

indeed.

here's a thought--let's ensure that people with terrible credit retain that terrible credit by making it harder and harder for them to get legitimate work. Let's just keep that vicious circle going, shall we? After all, poor people are poor only because they want to be, right?


Incorrigible--you are an absolute tool

I agree, if you have a felony or bad credit you cannot get a job and it is a downward spiral you cannot get out of.

I also don't understand that a company is liable if they do not do a thorough background check. How does thorough background check = credit check? I want to read of an example where a company was successfully sued because they did not do a credit check on someone.

Also I am sure there will be exceptions to this rule for specific industries/jobs and I am sure the government will need to use that exemption as well.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

This is why it's needed. You can't just hire anyone for certain positions with very sensitive information and it's necessary to protect the company.

If you can't figure out whether someone has a good handle on financial decisions through your interview process, a credit check isn't going to help you, because your business is run terribly.

 

[compuwiz1]

Yes, because the only possible reasoning behind bad credit is that the individual is a criminal.

Uh huh.

Not true, but there are some who are. As an employer I want to know what kind of person they are before I hire and make a mistake. Sure people get in financial binds, have medical bills and stuff like that, but there are some people who clearly do not pay their bills, period. I look at credit reports every day. There are people I will not trust with money based on what I see.

 

[Spungo]

Why would an employer need to conduct a credit check?

Because American businesses want to fail. Completely destroy employee morale by making work as formal as possible? Check. Doing drug testing so you only hire religious crazy people who think marijuana releases the devil? Check.

Credit checks are another nail in the coffin of American business. I know a lot of very talented people who have terrible credit. They're all trades people. I'm sure we'll lead the world in innovation when our companies require 4 year degrees to be a secretary and have perfect credit to pull cable through conduit.

So that before you hire a person into a sensitive position, you can know if they are in a financial situation likely to cause them to steal from your business. Just like they run a credit check when you apply for a security clearance.

So what you're saying is that you would trust Wall Street banksters with your money just because they have perfect credit? Fascinating.

 

[marincounty]

I say credit checks of employees is fine, as long as it is a two way street. Let me examine your company books to see how the company is doing, are they going to around in a few years for me?
Want me to pee in a cup for a drug test, let's test all the executives to make sure they aren't using.

 

[Spungo]

I say credit checks of employees is fine, as long as it is a two way street. Let me examine your company books to see how the company is doing, are they going to around in a few years for me?
Want me to pee in a cup for a drug test, let's test all the executives to make sure they aren't using.

That would actually make a good law. If one guy is taking a drug test, everybody takes a drug test. The last thing we need is more coked up CEO's running companies into the ground.

 

[zinfamous]

Not true, but there are some who are. As an employer I want to know what kind of person they are before I hire and make a mistake. Sure people get in financial binds, have medical bills and stuff like that, but there are some people who clearly do not pay their bills, period. I look at credit reports every day. There are people I will not trust with money based on what I see.

I've heard that Facebook is a pretty convenient way for employers to figure out everything they need to know about prospective employees these days--and is perhaps far less ambiguous than what a credit check might tell them.

And there's also that whole interview part.

Credit check is simply giving you a score, and a few instances of bill x wasn't paid, is it not? At least, what an employer would have access to. There is no explanation behind any of those hits.

 

[Anarchist420]

maybe credit checks wouldnt be a fucking issue if congress and the president and Neo-Republican governors/legislatures didnt support so much centralization of banking.

in other words, the Neo-Republicans are all talk when they say they oppose stuff like this because they control most of the legislatures and the governorships yet they have let central banking run amok.

 

[Anarchist420]

and this bill would just keep more people employed by huge corporations too.

 

[theeedude]

I don't see anything wrong with regulating this. The purpose of credit reporting is to establish eligibility for credit, not for a job. Even if employer has a business interest in checking your credit, that's not what it's for. Maybe employer would also like to peek into your health records because he wants to know if you are likely to take sick days, that doesn't mean it should be allowed.
It also gives creditors undue leverage over people's lives, where they can threaten to ruin someone's career over debts.