Some States May Ban Credit Checks for Employment

[momisery]

Not always. I use to be an auditor for a large chain and we found a ring of employees stealing stuff and selling it for cocaine. Proving it is the hard part of course.. but what they did was quit willingly with no charges and went to work for another jewelry chain.. There are not always charges bought up, it is normally cheaper to simply let these people quit and get them out of your hair and file and insurance claim, typical in business to do this and it saves them money too.

[OhioFiler]

There are so many ways to weed out undesirable workers: criminal checks, background checks, MySpace/Twitter/Facebook pages that credit is a nonissue. I can see if I was in a position dealing with $$$, and even then a pristine score is no guarantee (maybe they have a pristine score because they were skimming at their last job to pay bills.) I don't work anywhere near finance. I don't mind background and drug tests. They fit the scope of my job. Credit? Not so much. As an aside...I don't think employers get an entire picture of what you owe and what you spend. I still don't think it should be the end all and be all.

However, I had been denied jobs (with a good score) and can come to many conclusions: wrong fit, too little education, more education than the hiring manager, hated my suit, just got dumped by a bodaciously built brunette, boss' mistress applied for same job. There are way more reasons people don't get hired, some good ones and some plain stupid. With the economy in the tank, I would venture to see more people with less than stellar credit getting work.

What if you are in a position dealing with assets? Or how about a position dealing with goodwill? How about reputation? Access to information a competitor would pay huge sums to have?

If we keep taking screening tools away from employers they'll keep refraining from hiring.

[momisery]

The rights of our nation are for its PEOPLE not its BUSINESSES.. they are not people.. they are JOBS>>> You may not want someone over to your house because they have a tatoo that is your business but to deny them their rights to earn a living based on what you think is appropriate behavior makes no sense. Employers want to be Gods and Judges in one swope.

[momisery]

It is a problem because my personal life is none of their business that is why any more than theirs is mine. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't party, and I am not a hooker.. I work free OT many times for my boss and I am a stand up citizen.. I do not like my rights being violated by people deciding that I can not manage my credit. I can manage it it is just illness and stupidity on the part of walls street that I can not manage. If we are going to have a free for all instead of a society let the party begin by all means. People have rights to their privacy next they will not want to hire us because we are a health risk.. oh, wait they do that already based on age... You are hiring a person to do a JOB.. not to be a part of your FAMILY.

[Faust]

There are so many ways to weed out undesirable workers: criminal checks, background checks, MySpace/Twitter/Facebook pages that credit is a nonissue. I can see if I was in a position dealing with $$$, and even then a pristine score is no guarantee (maybe they have a pristine score because they were skimming at their last job to pay bills.) I don't work anywhere near finance. I don't mind background and drug tests. They fit the scope of my job. Credit? Not so much. As an aside...I don't think employers get an entire picture of what you owe and what you spend. I still don't think it should be the end all and be all.

However, I had been denied jobs (with a good score) and can come to many conclusions: wrong fit, too little education, more education than the hiring manager, hated my suit, just got dumped by a bodaciously built brunette, boss' mistress applied for same job. There are way more reasons people don't get hired, some good ones and some plain stupid. With the economy in the tank, I would venture to see more people with less than stellar credit getting work.

Not to mention, whatever happened to interviewing and getting to know someone on a personal level to see if they are fit for your company?

It's pure laziness.

[flyinbroke]

There are so many ways to weed out undesirable workers: criminal checks, background checks, MySpace/Twitter/Facebook pages that credit is a nonissue. I can see if I was in a position dealing with $$$, and even then a pristine score is no guarantee (maybe they have a pristine score because they were skimming at their last job to pay bills.) I don't work anywhere near finance. I don't mind background and drug tests. They fit the scope of my job. Credit? Not so much. As an aside...I don't think employers get an entire picture of what you owe and what you spend. I still don't think it should be the end all and be all.

However, I had been denied jobs (with a good score) and can come to many conclusions: wrong fit, too little education, more education than the hiring manager, hated my suit, just got dumped by a bodaciously built brunette, boss' mistress applied for same job. There are way more reasons people don't get hired, some good ones and some plain stupid. With the economy in the tank, I would venture to see more people with less than stellar credit getting work.

[momisery]

I've never seen more obsession on any board about the illegals than this one. Who's going to blow my leaves off the sidewalk if all the illegals are sent home? Those gas powered leaf blowers are heavy...

Funny I have to admit.. but I live in Springfield MO, and we are 97% white and never have a problem finding someone to bus tables, mow grass, or shovel snow.. That really isn't true at all. Kids will even do the farm jobs part time.. the problem is parent complain when you ask their children to crap in the fields, go without water for hours, and work 12 hours shifts in the AZ sun. In the midwest the farm jobs were in the summer so it was easy to find kids to do it and keep the costs down for the local farmers. In the warmer climates of course that is different, and today many farms are not "family" farms, but rather huge corporations. The larger corporations were using green cards. What happened out west was green cards do not designate the JOB they will be doing or WHO they will be working for.. So they used the green cards to get into construction where the wages were much higher than working in farming. Those jobs not only paid better but worked all year long, so they became illegals in our country because the card usage is illegal time frames. Of course there are those who swan across the Rio too... but the green cards could be used FOR the PURPOSE and that would have stopped a lot of this. Just the other day I spoke to a kid who moved here from AZ and he worked for Shey homes... they hired illegals because they worked long hours, for lower wages, complained less about needing a drink or potty breaks but did eliminate in the houses they were houses they were working on so they had to work on that behavior. Is that the new American Dream for our kids??? Longer hours, no breaks, lower pay??? If it is, fine but count on a third world nation here because our kids will have to live like they live 5 families to a home to afford thoses wages.

[MSbklawyer]

Freedom isn't free when people are stuck on welfare and/or unemployment because of unreasonable fences.

Why exactly does an employer have a God-given right to find out all sorts of confidential information about an applicant anyway?

Why does an employee have a God-given right to keep things about himself secret that the potential employer thinks (maybe rightly, maybe wrongly) are important about who he hires and doesn't hire to work for his business?

Why do employees get to choose who they work for? They go around demanding ever higher wages. They quit their jobs and go to work somewhere else when offered a higher wage or better working conditions. They try to improve their skills so they can earn ever more money. Enough! Not only is this unadulterated greed, but it causes inflation. Not only that, it interferes with interstate commerce when potential employers have to compete with each other for the limited pool of potential employees. There oughta be a law! No longer can potential employees shop around for who they want to work for. No longer can potential employers make decisions about who works for them. From now on those decisions will be made by the government based on a compatibility profile test that the potential employee would take down at the post office. Everybody will get paid the same. The cardiovascular surgeon will make the same as the truck driver. Nobody will ever be unemployed. If someone does not have a job, an employer will be required to hire that person. The government will get to decide which employer it is. It may be on the other side of the continent, but he will have a job. And it will pay the government rate.

See how good government control is? Why are you so afraid of it, OhioFiler?

[OhioFiler]

Freedom isn't free when people are stuck on welfare and/or unemployment because of unreasonable fences.

Why exactly does an employer have a God-given right to find out all sorts of confidential information about an applicant anyway? That piece of paper that you sign in haste when you're desparate for a job? What if the employer, or one of its HR reps wants to commit identity theft?

On top of being a weeder, it's an invasion of privacy.

I don't understand your first claim regarding freedom not being free.

An employer has the right to hire anyone he so chooses. You have the right to refrain from sharing any information you choose not to share. Background checks and credit checks are done with the applicant's consent. You don't like this employer's process, go somewhere else. That too is a right you have.

No document should be signed in haste regardless of how desperate one may feel.

If one is afraid the employer has dishonest, identity thieving HR staff members why would one be interested in working there?

How is giving consent to an employer to research one's background an invasion of one's privacy? An invasion of one's privacy would be a potential employer bugging your cell phone or installing a hidden camera in your bedroom without your consent.

[momisery]

You are correct. .the last thing and illegal wants is attention so they don't use it to open accounts etc.. they use it to get a job and that is it.. It is a smoke screen..

[OhioFiler]

Great point.. or perhaps you give to a certain organization and they disapprove of that hobby or event or club... no job...

And this is a problem why?

[Pizza]

These are emotional arguments that can't be considered in the equation. Our freedoms (and those afforded hiring employers) can not be modified so as to make one feel good.

Freedom isn't free when people are stuck on welfare and/or unemployment because of unreasonable fences.

Why exactly does an employer have a God-given right to find out all sorts of confidential information about an applicant anyway? That piece of paper that you sign in haste when you're desparate for a job? What if the employer, or one of its HR reps wants to commit identity theft?

On top of being a weeder, it's an invasion of privacy.

[momisery]

When I worked in CA we had to have the SS card in hand so you can feel for the raised edges on it.. then we had to call the SS office to verify the name, age etc.. most of the cards were for people over working age, so if you had a 19 year old in front of you and the card belonged to a 65 year old you pretty much knew you had a problem. The card numbers are not reported as stolen, so a credit check does no good not everyone even has a credit report and employers will still hire you if you don't have a fico at all. The idea that a credit report being run will stop illegals doesn't float at all... Business like Walmart like to check to see if you filed a BK against them.. or any other retailer not because they are afraid you might steal because you would have a crimmal record if you did that.. but it is a form of punishment to get you to not filed a BK.. to simply find a way to pay those bills.. which will lead to stealing when there are no jobs...

[momisery]

my privacy..... they don't belong in my bedroom, my family, or my spending habits.

[momisery]

Maybe we need to find out why this happened instead of fighting against it... there could have been a better way I am sure but based on my age of 60 I still remember the days when someone didn't like you they could black ball you even if you did a good job. People who tried to get unions started up usually ended up black balled. I have no problem with back ground checks as long as the person giving my references is honest... I have worked a lot of places and seen a lot of hard workers get bad references because they didn't "make nice" with the new male boss... things happen.. how do you protect peoples rights without laws? Of course with laws come issues, but growing up the whole class was punished when one idiot acted up because it was the only way to stop the action for happening again. Like a event was cancelled and never done again because a kid misbehaved.. Our whole society is based on one rotten apple in a barrel attitude... a street person is a lazy sob right? Not always but still everyone of them wears a label we all do... laws prevent people from them stopping your rights to the pursuit of happiness based on their convictions and attitudes...