This one always surprised me. Employers running credit checks on a new hire. In certain situations it makes sense. If someone is going to be handling money or have access to a company credit card. In most cases it makes no sense.
The garbage factor did a nice write-up on this yesterday.
The practice of checking credit as an employment condition needs to be abolished. The article referenced that U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. supports legislation that would prohibit using credit reports for employment purposes. I called his office, and they said he did indeed support it. The Bill is HR3149 Equal Employment for All Act. I’m writing Congressman Cohen to give him my support for this Bill.
This seems like an invasion of privacy to me. My personal credit is not related to my ability as a worker. What’s next, check my web browsing history before making a decision on hiring me? Well, that one would rule me out.
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Thanks for reviewing my write-up. I’m pretty passionate about this topic. And the worse this economy gets, the more American workers should be bothered by the credit check practice. It’s a domino affect: Lose job, credit suffers, apply for job, get declined because of credit, credit suffers more, apply for job….
I’m optimistic we can change this practice.