PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Pass the Equal Employment for All Act Now!
  1. Signatures
    412 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. The U.S. House of Representatives
  2. Created By
    Taylor Leake
    Philadelphia, PA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

We have just been through a crippling recession and are still in a jobs crisis. But instead of helping folks get back to work, many companies use credit checks to screen job applicants.

This practice is makes little sense, and needs to be stopped. Please email your member of congress and ask them to pass the Equal Employment for All Act as soon as they can. 

The act will stop employers from using credit checks to determine who they will hire which is discriminatory and does not predict success on the job. 

Photo credit: TheTruthAbout

Why People Are Signing
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Pass the Equal Employment for All Act (H.R. 3149)

Greetings,

I am writing to urge you to pass the Equal Employment for All Act, House Resolution 3149. It would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions. At a time when so many Americans are suffering from oure recent recession, and with an unemployment rate of 9.6, nothing could be more important than getting people back to work. This bill would help get people back to work.

Moreover, using credit scores to determine who you hire makes little sense except in specific industries where financial literacy is a particularly important job qualification. Beyond those few exceptions, credit scores are a poor predictor of job performance. One simply does not have much to do with the other. During such a difficult economic time, workers who are perfectly qualified are being denied jobs because of poor credit scores.

Credit scores are also potentially discriminatory when used to determine who gets jobs. A report done by the Federal Reserve Board shows that African Americans and Hispanics tend to have lower credit scores than Whites and Asians. It is troubling that such a flawed metric might be used to determine who gets a job and who doesn't.

Four states have already outlawed the use of credit scores as a determining factor for hiring, and there are bills proposed in another 20 states. It is time for Congress to pass this law.

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