Senators Stoops and Randolph have introduced SB 214 which generally prohibits employers from using credit reports when making employment decisions about hiring, firing, and the like. Some exceptions are made, including exceptions for managerial positions, positions that involve access to money, positions with local government or the attorney general (oddly specific exception there).
I understand both sides here, I suppose. On the one hand, credit information generally was not intended to inform employment decisions and, to the extent the consumer/employee gave out the information, it probably wasn’t with future employment in mind. Furthermore, just because you have bad credit doesn’t necessarily make you a bad employee.
On the other hand, employers might well find that credit scores are a fairly reliable proxy for whether the employee will be responsible. If the employee can’t handle his or her own business, the employer might reasonably lack confidence in the employee’s ability to handle the employer’s business. And, while the proxy is not 100%, the labor pool is probably deep enough for the employer to miss a few good employees and still put together a good staff made up of employees with solid credit scores.
The state’s interest in this is that it puts potential employees in a vicious circle. Bad credit leads to few job prospects leads to worse credit leads to fewer job prospects leads to burden on the public safety net.
This is an absolutely wonderful and needed law. Seeking employment is no reason to go snooping around credit reports or any other matters irrelevant to the job. An employer should only be able to look at a candidate’s ability to perform the job.
In exchange for that nonsense of “corporate personhood,” the State is able to impose all manner of conditions on companies.
Good for these Senators, though please give the bill enough teeth to impose a private cause of action and treble damages.