Sixteen states are proposing legislation to ban credit checks on job applicants. Hawaii and Washington already ban credit checks on most job applicants.
Yet according to a 2010 study by the Society of Human Resources Management, 47 percent of companies currently conduct pre-employment credit checks on some candidates and 13 percent conduct them on all candidates. According to the suvey, credit checks may be performed to reduce or prevent theft or embezzlement, to minimize legal liability for negligent hiring or retention, to assess overall trustworthiness of job candidates, or to comply with state laws.
What do you think? Is a job applicant’s credit score a relevant indicator of how they will perform on the job?
I understand there are extremes where yes it could prevent a company from hiring someone who could be at risk to commit theft or another crime. But really, how can you judge someone on their financial state, especially right now, aren’t the majority of people in a little bit of a financial crunch?
Allison,
I think a lot of people agree with you. Thanks for commenting.