States may ban credit checks on job applicants

[Gadawg73]

Personal rights include the rights to conduct business the way i choose and to hire who i want to hire.

Within reason. Your right to conduct business the way you you choose and your right to hire who you want ends when it begins to interfer with someone else's rights as a citizen.

It's sort of like my right to swing my hand ends at your face.

As an employer, I have the right to know as much about a person I am going to hire as I can obtain through public records and a job interview. That includes a police check and a credit check. These are all a matter of public record. You, as a person seeking employment from me, have every right to refuse to make that information available to me. I can then use that refusal in my decision-making process that I use to determine if I want to offer you a job. It costs a lot of money to hire someone, train someone, and bring them up to a level where they are going to be an actual benefit to the company. For the sake of conversation, let's say that the position I am trying to fill pays $18.00 an hour. If by conducting a credit check I can clearly assertain that you can't live on an $18.00 an hour job, I am certainly not going to hire you so you have some income until you can find yourself a job that you can make ends meet on. That would be just plain silly of me to even consider. It would be a very bad use of company funds. Also if that credit check proves to me that even the $18.00 an hour that is to be your salary can't cover your expenses, you will be hounding me for a raise everytime you turn around. Call it whatever you want to call it, businesses are in business to make money - not simply to pay for your 52 inch tv. Nobody owes you anything. That is, unless you are manifold with that small penis. An exception could be made there under the hire the handicapped policy.

Hate to tell ya Moe but running a credit check without authorization is a Federal crime.
A credit report IS NEVER public record. EVER.

 

[beowolfe]

I own 3 businesses and one is a detective agency. We do background checks for many businesses.
We ONLY do credit checks of job applicants if they give us approval with a signed authorization. No exceptions. We advise all businesses to do them as credit is a good indication of how responsible someone is.
If the employee wants the job and authorizes it there should be no law to ban it.
EVERY job has a fidiciary relationship to it.
The owner of the business has their $ on the line when they give anyone a job.

I don't think you're looking at the big picture. If the applicant doesn't feel he/she has the right to refuse to provide authorization, then there is a reason for a law to regulate that. If your application gets the same consideration w/ or w/o authorization for a credit check, then you'd be right. But posters who claim they are employers have already said they won't hire someone who doesn't give them authorization. If that's really the case, then something needs to be done about that.

 

[Nonelitist]

I think there is some misunderstanding here... and that is my fault. So yes, my saying it is "public info" wouldn't be correct.

I can't run a credit report without your permission, but I also won't hire you if you don't give permission. Its a requirement.

Problem solved.

 

[Mr Natural]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

 

[Nonelitist]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

Wrong... and I have the right to not hire you. And it happens.

 

[Dr Grump]

Wanna bet? I can even check out your facebook account to see if I want to hire you.

Only if I agree to be your friend....

 

[Dr Grump]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

Wrong... and I have the right to not hire you. And it happens.

Maybe it is a right in the US. Certainly not down here. And I wouldn't work for anybody who would ask such a thing anyway, so we'd both be happy...

 

[Gadawg73]

I own 3 businesses and one is a detective agency. We do background checks for many businesses.
We ONLY do credit checks of job applicants if they give us approval with a signed authorization. No exceptions. We advise all businesses to do them as credit is a good indication of how responsible someone is.
If the employee wants the job and authorizes it there should be no law to ban it.
EVERY job has a fidiciary relationship to it.
The owner of the business has their $ on the line when they give anyone a job.

I don't think you're looking at the big picture. If the applicant doesn't feel he/she has the right to refuse to provide authorization, then there is a reason for a law to regulate that. If your application gets the same consideration w/ or w/o authorization for a credit check, then you'd be right. But posters who claim they are employers have already said they won't hire someone who doesn't give them authorization. If that's really the case, then something needs to be done about that.

They have the right to refuse and an employer has a right to refuse to consider them if they do not provide it.
What gives you or the government the right to tell me how to run my business?
I would not hire anyone that hides any information cnocerning how responsible they are.
Government and you have no right to tell me what guidelines on personal responsiblity I make in determining applicants.
If you do not like it be responsible and pay your bills on time.

 

[Mr Natural]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

Wrong... and I have the right to not hire you. And it happens.

And I have the right to take my skillset somewhere else.

My credit situation is none of his business just as his is none of mine.

As long as I get paid for the work I do and he's happy with my work, that's where the relationship ends.

 

[xotoxi]

Wanna bet? I can even check out your facebook account to see if I want to hire you.

Only if I agree to be your friend....

He would force you to be his friend...or else he wouldn't hire you.

(Don't tell him about your MySpace account! )

 

[Skull Pilot]

If I as an employer want to check credit history so as to be better informed as to the character of an applicant, i should have every right to do so.

Do you think someone's character can be summed up by a credit check? If a person has had a tough time making ends meet, should that prevent them from succeeding, if given an honest chance?

The article said it well: It's tough enough finding a job these days...

Just another erosion of an individual's right to privacy! But some Conservatives have no problem eroding personal rights, or so it seems.

Yes. A large part of one's character is defined by how one handles responsibility. Think about it. I as an employer am trusting an employee with my property, my money in some cases and definitely my reputation. it is only prudent of me to check a potential hire's background.

And since i would have to get consent to run a credit check, anyone worried about their privacy can decline to give consent.

 

[Nonelitist]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

Wrong... and I have the right to not hire you. I do have the obligation of letting you know this at the time you are applying. I also have to let you know if your credit report prohibited you from getting the job either orally, in writing or by electronic means. And it happens.

In fact, I can run a credit report.. with permission and investigate further. I can do a backround check just go get your credit payment records, driving record and criminal history. For some positions, we can further investigate... including interviewing your friends and neighbors.

In the case of promotions... all I have to do is notify you that we can run credit during employment. I don't have to notify you when that credit report is run.

 

[Skull Pilot]

If I as an employer want to check credit history so as to be better informed as to the character of an applicant, i should have every right to do so.

And what if they fell into financial hardships and couldn't afford their bills? that means they have bad character? Sounds like bs to me

So because some person does not adequately plan his finances, I have to give him a job?

Sorry. But those who get in debt so far they cannot get out of it are not the type of people i want making decisions in a business i own.

 

[Gadawg73]

An employer has no more right to run a credit check on a potential employee than that employee has the right to run a credit check on the employer.

Employment is quid-pro-quo.

Wrong... and I have the right to not hire you. And it happens.

And I have the right to take my skillset somewhere else.

My credit situation is none of his business just as his is none of mine.

As long as I get paid for the work I do and he's happy with my work, that's where the relationship ends.

Different scenario there. While you are working you have a track record AT THAT JOB.
AS AN APPLICANT, you have no track record with that employer and they need to know of your past actions on being a responsible individual.
Of course you can go somewhere else. Where did anyone claim you would be held hostage.
You have NO right to a job. Jobs ARE EARNED.

 

[Skull Pilot]

How could they stop them? The prospective employer doesn't have to give a reason not to hire someone.

And an employer never should have to give a reason he didn't hire someone.

 

[Nonelitist]

Wanna bet? I can even check out your facebook account to see if I want to hire you.

Only if I agree to be your friend....

Wanna bet?

 

[Skull Pilot]

Do you think someone's character can be summed up by a credit check? If a person has had a tough time making ends meet, should that prevent them from succeeding, if given an honest chance?

The article said it well: It's tough enough finding a job these days...

Just another erosion of an individual's right to privacy! But some Conservatives have no problem eroding personal rights, or so it seems.

Personal rights include the rights to conduct business the way i choose and to hire who i want to hire.

Within reason. Your right to conduct business the way you you choose and your right to hire who you want ends when it begins to interfer with someone else's rights as a citizen.

It's sort of like my right to swing my hand ends at your face.

And how does not hiring someone violate their rights?

 

[Dr Grump]

Wanna bet? I can even check out your facebook account to see if I want to hire you.

Only if I agree to be your friend....

Wanna bet?

How much?

 

[jillian]

Hate to tell ya Moe but running a credit check without authorization is a Federal crime.
A credit report IS NEVER public record. EVER.

No it isn't. But every job application allows them to check your credit and other records.

For my job I have to file a financial disclosure statement every year which details all holdings of me and my husband as well as all sources of our income over a certain amount of money.

 

[mudwhistle]

If I as an employer want to check credit history so as to be better informed as to the character of an applicant, i should have every right to do so.

Do you think someone's character can be summed up by a credit check? If a person has had a tough time making ends meet, should that prevent them from succeeding, if given an honest chance?

The article said it well: It's tough enough finding a job these days...

Just another erosion of an individual's right to privacy! But some Conservatives have no problem eroding personal rights, or so it seems.

A credit check is a pretty good indicator of someone's character during good times.

During bad times almost everyone will score badly.

I've found that people who rent tend to be less reliable so it reflects in their credit report. They usually can't afford a home because they have this strange habit of not paying their bills.