WASHINGTON A group of Democratic senators introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit employers from requiring applicants to disclose their credit history as part of the hiring process.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Edward Markey, D-Mass., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., are backing the bill, which is called the Equal Employment For All Act.
"Research has shown that an individual's credit rating has little to no correlation to his or her ability to succeed in the workplace," Warren said on a call with reporters. "We're pushing on this bill now because the problems of bad credit were also compounded following the 2008 financial crisis. Many people faced sinking home prices, it depreciated savings, and people lost their small businesses and found themselves mired in debt."
She added that credit scores can be "riddled with inaccuracies," warning as well that they don't provide "highly refined information" for employers to assess.
"This is a lot of collected information that is reported in an aggregated score, and how that information is weighted by an individual company is proprietary information," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "This is not a document that's giving detailed information about what this person has done over the past seven years."
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., has pushed for a similar bill several times in the House, introducing it again most recently in February. The House bill has 31 co-sponsors.
