Should employers have the right to do a credit history background check on potential employers for any type of position?

Employers have the right to pick the best person to do the work. Most employers hate the paperwork involved when they receive a garnishment so that would be one factor. If they get the idea that they are going to be called by collection agencies and such, they wouldn’t want to hire you.

A credit history tells a lot more to a careful reader than simply “does he pay his bills on time?” It also helps to establish residence and employment histories, which can aid in follow-ups checking resume claims. A simple credit history tells a lot about a person’s character and trustworthiness.

We should probably require them of all candidates for political office. They’d be a hell of a lot more useful than a birth certificate.

I am going to be the first to disagree because I have a problem with anyone looking at my credit who doesn’t report on it. If I am opening a card.. sure bring it on. Getting a loan from a bank… sure bring it. But when I apply for a job or apply to live at an Apt… those people make your score down by looking but they do nothing to help get it back up (sure its just a point or two.. but it still goes down).

I think it is acceptable for certain types of employment, but not just as a standard rule for any job. If you work in a job that requires a high level of security clearance or you are dealing with money and information in a bank or other financial institute, I can see where it may be important for an employer to know if you are in financial difficulties.

Not only would your credit report be a good indicator of how you handle money and responsibility, it could show an employer if you could potentially be bribed or if you were desperate for cash and a target for a scam to obtain money under false pretenses.

In this circumstance, you employer would also have a lead on you if you skipped the area after embezzling becasue of the past addresses, cosigners on loans, maiden names, etc.

I believe we are giving up too much of our privacy and liberties. Apparently, some in Congress agree with me.

Two states, Hawaii and Washington have laws that don’t allow employers to check credit for employment or promotions. HR 3149, a bill introduced in the House by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn will make it illegal in all states. One of the reasons for Cohen’s interest in the issue is because of the recent downturn in the economy including the housing market.

With unemployment increasing and so many Americans struggling, Cohen and others feel it is unfair to use this as a job qualifier for people who may have pushed paying bills back a month in order to eat or pay utility bills.

If the bill does pass into law, you will still have to submit to a credit check if you are applying for a job with a financial institute, a local or state agency, a national security or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

I agree with this aspect if they would require the potential employee an opportunity to explain items on the report that might be deterimental.

If i owned a company, i would require this as a condition of employment. why? if this potential employee is a credit risk, he may also be deperate for money. this is how computers, power equipment, etc. come up missing.

This is not a rights violation, its just good business.

Same applies to people who apply to rent an apartment.

When you say you are an electrical technician, does that mean you would be going into people’s homes to repair problems? If so, I think a credit check and background check are warranted. They want to feel safer about sending you out into their customers homes.

I would say that if you don’t want a potential employer to do that but he has the legal right and feels it is important, then your option is to seek employment with someone else. @john65pennington‘s answer & @Seaofclouds reasons make perfect sense to me.

@Seaofclouds No I work in industies.
@bkcunningham1 I can agree with thoses cases you’ve mentioned but this goes too far when these checks extend to all types of employment especially during a bad economy where many are struggling just to survive (such as myself). When you are just getting by you are not going to be buying a different vehicle every 2 years, using credit cards and such.
@john65pennington I can see for renting an apartment but when it comes to employment what are people who are struggling supposed to do? Since there are many decent people who may be struggling with hard times who are just trying to find employment what does this tell them? If anything this encourages crime by keeping people unemployed. How are you supposed to make money then?
@rooeytoo What many like you do not realise is you can pay all your bills on time and pay all your loans back on time (such as myself) but still have a horrible credit score. I do not think many on Fluther realise how the credit rating system really works.

To give an employer the right to make a judgement on my personal life is ridiculous. If I am just applying for a job you should be able to know?
where I shop
Average checking account balance
Major purchases I have made

At what score do you judge unhireable? Lets say you’ve been the victim of identity theft, or a bad investment or a divorce. Should that have a bearing on your character for purposes of hiring? Everytime someone checks your credit score the number goes down, so if I let every employer I send a resumes to inquire, then I won’t have a score suitable for that wonderful company.

The American worker is losing more and more rights to the employer everyday, and most of us are thankful. So as this recession continues to reinforce the power of the employer we will most certainly accept our new lesser standing in life for we are thankful that at least we are not among the poor and downtroddin.

@thekoukoureport Exactly! We are becoming a communist country to the private sector. Employers can now pry into your private life at the deepest levels. They can reject you if you’re too fat, smoke cigarettes, and now if you were late with a few bills or didn’t own a credit card because you’ve chosen to save money instead. Again many on Fluther do not realise how the credit rating system really works. It has nothing to do with being responsible but not making consistent interest payments to fill the lenders pockets up with money. If I choose to save my money, pay my bills on time why should I be rejected for employent? Again I really do not think many understand how the credit rating system really works.

We are losing our personal rights to employers everyday. Where does this stop? I can see checking employment history but many things have gone too far.

This is an interesting counterpoint to my answer to this question. While I’d voluntarily restrict my public speech in a job where it could be damaging to my employer, I’d tell the same employer to get stuffed if they demanded information about my personal finances. My job never involved the company’s finances, except filing the occasional expense reimbursement claim, so my ability to manage my own money or not was none of its business. If I’d applied for a job in accounting or at the credit union, it would be a different matter.

In other words, it’s not appropriate if your credit history and/or rating have no bearing on your ability to do the job in question.

Well, @thekoukoureport, you’re wrong about all that. Your credit report has nothing on it about your average checking account balance, where you shop (unless you have and use store credit cards, I suppose—does “Macy’s” give you a great deal of information about me?—or major purchases you have made, outside of those financed by mortgages or loans which is the purpose of the report, after all). I know all of this because I’m looking at my own (or was when I wasn’t typing).

So, 0-for-3 there.

And what @Paradox has in mind regarding “a communist country to the private sector” I have no idea. It sounds like a bad idea for a terrible screenplay, or in more competent hands maybe it’s just a terrible idea for a bad screenplay. @Paradox I don’t think that you comprehend how the system works. I already know that you don’t know what’s contained in a credit report.

@CyanoticWasp Actually I really do not appreciate your attitude of talking down to me. I do understand what is contained in a credit report. They show if you paid your bills on time, if you filed for bankruptcy, oweing outstanding loans and such.

My main grip here is that many are struggling right because of losing their jobs and many are struggling to pay their bills on time. Many are normally decent people who’ve hit hard times. So you really are counting on employers (on their own free will) to do the right thing? I can see in cases of directly dealing with money but for all types of employment this is going too far.

Tell your crap to people who’ve lost their jobs, have families to support and are struggling to pay their bills bigshot.

@Paradox – you must subscribe to the theory that all employers are bad guys and all employees are good upstanding individuals. That is a total and utter generalization. There are plenty of good and bad guys on both sides of that coin.

So yes, I am “counting on employers (on their own free will) to do the right thing.” Employers good or bad, do not fire a good, loyal worker because they are having bad times financially, that would be of no benefit to anyone. Also the OP says they are running a credit check before employment, not continuously during employment. Also if a good employee is terminated, it would more likely be due to the employer having bad times personally and can’t afford to pay workers anymore. Even bad guys don’t cut their nose off to spite their face.

The other consideration is the bad employees. I have worked with people who were there to collect a paycheck and do as little work as possible. They made it dangerous for their fellow workers because they didn’t care about the quality of their work.

@rooeytoo It’s not about subscribing to the theory that all employers are the bad guys and all employees are the good guys. I will admit I am making a much bigger point than just credit checks. How far should employers be allowed to go with going into individuals private lives? Where is the limit? First it was drug tests, than nicotine tests, now it’s overweight people. Don’t you see a trend here? What is to stop employers from going even deeper?

I will admit I should have asked this question in a different way. You still seem to be missing my point here. I’m not talking about people who already have jobs. I’m am referring to those former employees who have hit hard times with just about all of the local industries in my area closing down who are struggling to pay bills, support their families and basically just to survive and they may be turned away from employment because almost all of these employers are doing credit background checks. Yes this is a very literal situation I am speaking of. I am not speaking of myself here but these are real people who are decent, people I know that are really struggling. What would you tell them?

Well thank you for being at least respectful unlike some assholes on here, I do appreciate that.

@Paradox – thank you, I try to be honest and respectful, I’m pleased that I succeeded.

Speaking as one who has had employees I still feel I have the right to pursue whatever avenue I deem necessary in order to make an informed decision whether to hire someone or not. I feel I have the right to use all methods legal to obtain information to make that decision. Some potential employees have more to hide than a suspect credit record and I want to know that before I risk my good name and reputation by taking someone on to act as my representative.

I have also been an employee who has been checked and rechecked in a lot of areas that I thought were really no business of my prospective employer but I wanted the job so I acquiesced to the background checks. I don’t recall ever having been passed over due to information sourced during those checks but who knows??? If I didn’t get the job I just went on to the next choice. I have done some pretty crappy jobs in order to keep a roof over my head.

I don’t know how it can be legislated to prevent a prospective employer from obtaining background information using accepted and legal channels. And I don’t think it would be a good or fair thing to tie the hands of an employer or any interested party in that fashion.
Whether it is fair or not is another question entirely.

I have read a lot of these comments and yes you all have your valid points….but I say this…I’m a damn good accountant but I’ve been dealt a few bad hands being laid off from work so many times in the Aerospace Industry, fell behind in my debt while on unemployment because other employers don’t wanna hire you cause you may end up going back to your aerospace job when the union notifies you, through fear of loss. So I went to school to make myself more valuable. I studied Business Administration and Management, received my degree, and look at this, now I have to suffer having a credit report taken on me, deduction in points for every time it’s requested, and most of all, I’m not given the opportunity to prove myself worthy and get my credit back on track…MESSAGE!!!!!!!! If the employers took a chance and actually talked to people about what they’ve discovered, maybe they could get a better understanding and make it known that, I (the employer), am aware of the derogatory credit, that you’ve faced on your credit report. This company does not tolerate embezzling or theft of any kind. As long as you feel that you have established a fair salary/ hourly rate, you should be able to make good with your creditors…MESSAGE!!!! How can a person make good with their creditors if the employers won’t give them a position and a new start on life….and the banks can’t sell any loans or insurance, homes still being foreclosed on, cars being repossessed, and a negative decline in unemployment and State Assisted Income (DSHS).....I’m in Washington State