Senator Warren Introduces Legislation to Prohibit Employers From Requiring Credit Report Disclosure
Fact Sheet is Available
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Text of the Legislation is Available
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Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today introduced the
Equal Employment for All Act with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen
(D-N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal
(D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy
(D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). The
legislation would prohibit employers from requiring potential employees
to disclose their credit history as part of the job application process.
It was previously thought that credit history may provide insight into
an individual's character, but research has shown that an individual's
credit rating has little to no correlation with his or her ability to
be successful in the workplace.
"A bad credit rating is far more often the result of unexpected medical
costs, unemployment, economic downturns, or other bad breaks than it is
a reflection on an individual's character or abilities," Senator
Warren said. "Families have not fully recovered from the 2008 financial
crisis, and too many Americans are still searching for jobs. This is about
basic fairness -- let people compete on the merits, not on whether they
already have enough money to pay all their bills."
A study from the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year suggested
that errors in credit reports are common and, in many cases, have been
difficult to correct. "It makes no sense to make it harder for people
to get jobs because of a system of credit reporting that has no correlation
with job performance and that can be riddled with inaccuracies,"
Warren said.
The Equal Employment for All Act has been endorsed by more than 40 organizations,
including 9to5, AFGE Women's and Fair Practices Departments, American
Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), American Association of People
with Disabilities (AAPD), American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Relations (AFL-CIO), American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME), Americans for Financial Reform, Asian American Justice
Center, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Black Women's Roundtable,
Campaign for Community Change, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for
Race & Justice, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Consumer
Action, DÄ“mos, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), Disability
Rights Legal Center, Job Opportunities Task Force, Lawyers' Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights, Legal Action Center, MFY Legal Services, NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National
Black Justice Coalition, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation,
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients), National
Council of La Raza, National Council on Independent Living, National Employment
Law Project, National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), National
Fair Housing Alliance, The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National
Network to End Domestic Violence, National Organization for Women, National
Partnership for Women and Families, National Women's Law Center, National
Workrights Institute, New Economy Project, New York Legal Assistance Group,
PolicyLink, Poverty and Race Research Action Council, Public Citizen,
Public Justice Center, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and
U.S. PIRG.
Senator Warren's bill is based on legislation previously introduced
by Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9).