...and I think we should take it up as our next cause!!
STATES WEIGH LIMITS ON CREDIT CHECKS FOR EMPLOYMENT
Do a few bad marks on your credit file make you a poor job candidate?
A handful of state and national law makers are saying "no." And they want to make sure that employers can't use credit as a litmus test for hiring.
Two states have already banned the practice, several more are considering it, and one Congressional committee is weighing a bill that would address the issue on a national basis.
"This is the tip of a very large iceberg," says Jay Stanley, privacy expert with the ACLU.
....
Recently, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee sponsored the "Equal Employment for All Act," a national bill that would bar employers from using credit reports in hiring or promotions.
In researching the bill, Cohen and his staffers discovered that many of the credit-challenged were "young people, seniors, minorities and divorced women," says Steven Broderick, the congressman's communications director.
The bill (HR 3149), would ensure that "employers could not use a person's credit history against them," Broderick says. The bill has been sent to the House Financial Services Committee for consideration.
Don't know what everyone's situation is here....but I can tell you that several years back, after a less than amicable break up left my credit tarnished, I WAS turned down for a job - after making it through four rounds of interviews, calls to all the references I listed, computer testing, etc. Managed to get it back on track, and then I lost my job March 2008.
Twenty months later, I don't even want to RUN my credit report. Until this past month I paid my basics on time or early - rent, utilities, car insurance. Credit cards, etc - they got what I could pay, when I could pay it. Now, with no check for almost a month, and who knows how long it will take for NJ to disperse funds, I am certain the report is not painting a rosy picture. And THAT makes it that much more difficult to get a job - after putting out gas/toll money to go on interviews, they run the infamous credit report, and since I did not have a trust fund to ride out the past 2 years, I get the lovely rejection letter in the mail.
Read the article on the bill - it does have some exceptions, like upper management or people with access to money, but for most of us, I agree with Mr. Mendoza, and I would love to see more states pass this (or even the US Congress...I am sure they could work something out)
Opinions/thoughts?
Absolutely f*cking criminal...........screening credit reports for job opportuntities
ReplyDeleteThose with bad credit need a job more than those with good credit as far as I'm concerned.
Less government....that's what we need
Jerry, I updated the original post since I found there is a National bill pending (originally I posted about something that was California specific)
ReplyDeleteThe article says:
These days, 43 percent of companies conducting any type of pre-employment screening use credit checks for some or all employees, according to a 2006 study by the Society of Human Resource Management.
That number is up from previous studies.
"The use of credit checks for employment decisions has skyrocketed in the past few years," says Lesser.
The problem, he says, is that many people don't know about it until they can't get a job.
"A lot of this has just fallen under the radar," Lesser says.
With a national unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent and many Americans suffering damaged credit in the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch, politicians and consumer advocates worry that the screenings unfairly penalize people who are trying to -- literally -- work their way out of financial trouble.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3149
ReplyDeleteOK< I already wrote to Pelosi, my House Rep, and both NJ Senators. It only makes sense they look at this now, since it impacts the long-term unemployed the most - since we are most likely the ones with ruined credit - slow pays, evictions, foreclosures, repos, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne part of an overall plan they need to look at unemployment.
I am on board with supporting this bill 100%
ReplyDeleteVote here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/091004-can-bad-credit-keep-you-from-being-hired.html
(So far 92% say no, bad credit should not prevent you from getting hired)
Credit should not keep a person from getting a job. I know people with good jobs and HORRIBLE credit, and i know a person with no job and excellent credit.
ReplyDeleteThose of us with struggling credit is a result of the economy anyway. It's a no win situation some times.
We also need a bill that blocks from these theifs from scamming the unemployed workers!!!!! un freakin real this is
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/ydt45gx
I totally agree, I think we need to support this bill as well! The time is now and we should get behind it and fight! Its as I said all along, just because we get this extension doesnt mean that we are done with the fight. Until we are able to get jobs we should do what we can to change the things we can change!!!
ReplyDeleteDo we know what States have banned the practice already? I know Tennessee needs to do it because this state is out of control with everything!!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of information here that I don't think should get lost in the archives. I am going to look at ways to make sure it stays alive on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm still here!!! And I am on board with this too, I agree with all of you and the article it is a "debtors prison"...Good call!
ReplyDeleteThis is a bill that needs some life and attention...make some noise....most bankruptcies are due to medical bills and layoffs, not lack of character as some idiots would suggest...furthermore there are documented studies that clearly show that there is no correlation between credit and job performance...that's a bank lobby issue trying to let us know who the boss is and keep us in our place....how dare we get deathly ill and miss a payment...we'll make sure you never get a descent job!...That's so much a cruel punishment. Most people with hits on credit report want to pay bills and fix things. Get laid off by no fault of your own, miss a couple payments, and then you are disqualified as undesirable from the one thing you need to fix things...a JOB!...This is important legislation that needs to be passed! MAKE SOME NOISE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was laid off and lost everything including my house. The dirty whores at JP Morgan Chase told me that they were going to drag the short sale out for as long as possible so as to destroy my credit and ruin my life, and they did. I have been turned down for two jobs because of my credit. I had to sell my car to buy food. If I had the money I would buy a gun and blow my brains out. Thanks for nothing Obama.
ReplyDelete