H.R. 321: Equal Employment for All Act

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-9^th, TN) reintroduced the Equal Employment for All Act on January 19, 2011. This bill is identical to H.R. 3149 from the 111^th Congress, which ASIS opposed. H.R. 321 would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit employers from using credit checks for employment purposes or adverse action. The bill makes exceptions for jobs requiring national security or FDIC clearance, financial institutions, or when otherwise required by law. Several organizations testified against this bill last Congress, arguing that credit is relevant to the job duties of many positions requiring high levels of trust, not just those exempted in the bill.

Status: H.R. 321 has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee. This is also an issue that has been the subject of much state activity.  Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and Illinois have already enacted laws that ban the use of credit reports for most job applicants and similar legislation has been considered in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin.