The City Council last week overwhelmingly approved a bill prohibiting employers from discriminating against employees and job applicants based on credit history.
Sponsored by Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), Introduction 261-A passed last Thursday by a vote of 47-3. The new legislation amends the city’s Human Rights Law to make it an unlawful discriminatory practice to request or use an applicant’s consumer credit history in making employment decisions.
According to the Council, employers often use consumer credit information to make hiring decisions, despite the fact that there is little evidence linking an employee’s credit score or credit worthiness to job performance or trustworthiness. Credit checks, the Council noted, may adversely affect those who have fallen behind on student loan payments, medical bills or have taken on other forms of consumer debt. Further, the use of credit checks for employment purposes has been shown to have a discriminatory impact on low-income communities and communities of color. They also have a disparate impact on women and victims of domestic violence.
Additionally, the bill includes a list of what the Council characterized as “very limited, but sensible, carve-outs” that allow employers to use credit checks where necessary, including: where its use is required by state or federal law; when hiring for certain positions, such as police officers and high-level city employees who are already subject to Department of Investigation background checks and Conflicts of Interest Board financial disclosures; and when hiring for positions that involve potential cyber-security risks or fiduciary duties to the employer and the ability to enter financial agreements valued at $10,000 or more.
Lander called the bill a “strong, smart piece of legislation.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
