It appears that HR 3149 was introduced yesterday and Referred to Committee. HR 3149is a bill set to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions. As an industry, pre-employment credit reports are only suggested to be used when necessary and only for the responsibilities of that particular position. In fact, the EEOC and FCRA already have provisions that the adverse information can only be used if it fits within the scope of the job. Most background screening programs only impliment this type of check as part of a much broader search.
Section three of the bill provides some exceptions but does not take into account most of them. We suggest you spend some time reading this bill and write your congressperson to oppose it. We agree the intent of this bill is to get more people to work. However, as with most legislation, there are some unintended consequences.
There must be provisions for positions that could be negatively effected by a person with a poor credit history. This 111th Congress has a horrible track record already for not even reading bills before voting. Reach out and make a difference, make them read it, make them amend it!
