Simply telling people to “get a job” when they are experiencing financial hardship is unhelpful; it is not that simple. In the Gilded Age, elegantly dressed businessmen used to saunter past destitute people in the street and say, “Get a job, you bum!” as soon as the people tried to make eye contact with them. If you ever want to pass the time during a boring shift at work, ask your coworker about his or her jobless, financially strapped cousin. Your coworker will rattle on about what the coworker perceives as the cousin’s refusal to reenter the workforce and about the cousin’s ingratitude for the coworker’s generosity and advice until it is time to clock out.
Employment is supposed to be what keeps us out of poverty, but sometimes it does that more successfully than other times. Consider that today, almost everyone whose annual salary is $100,000 lives paycheck to paycheck; even as they make the minimum payments on their credit cards, the balances keep creeping higher, and therefore, their credit scores get lower.
Imagine the cruelty of employers who refuse to hire people with low credit scores. It is against the law for employers to do this, but it still happens sometimes. Our lawyers specializing in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) at HKM Employment Attorneys in Huntsville, Alabama, can help you if a prospective employer discriminates against you because of your credit report.
Do Credit Bureaus Make It Better or Worse?
Ask anyone who used to live in a small, Alabama town why they have never seriously considered moving back, and they will tell you that it is because everyone knows everyone else’s business, and everyone plays favorites. A minor misdeed of your forty years ago is still the talk of the town.
This is how lenders used to operate. In the 1960s and earlier, if someone the bankers did not know came to a bank and tried to open a bank account or take out a loan, the bankers would contact other banks and ask about the person’s reputation and the employees of the other banks would dish out the gossip. What kind of client is he? He has an illegitimate child. He drinks too much. No one has ever seen him eat meat on Fridays, so we think he is Catholic. And that is only if you were lucky. The bank from which you tried to borrow might also turn you away outright because of what the bankers could gather about your ethnic background based on your physical appearance and your name. And forget about borrowing if you are a woman.
This is why, in 1970, the federal government enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It provided for the establishment of credit reporting bureaus that provided uniform reports; today, the major credit reporting bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. This way, prospective lenders could learn about the applicant’s history of borrowing and repayment without finding out all kinds of other irrelevant gossip.
Pursuant to the FCRA, consumers have the right to request a copy of their credit reports at any time and for any reason. Every item on your credit report has a specific time limit for how long it stays there. You have the right to dispute incorrect information on your credit report and old information that is due for removal. Furthermore, the law allows for circumstances where parties other than the consumer can request a copy of the consumer’s credit report, but the FCRA requires these parties to require justification from the credit bureaus when requesting someone else’s credit report.
What Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act Have to Do With Employment?
Employers and prospective employers have the right to access your credit report by requesting a copy of it from the credit reporting bureaus. The credit reporting bureaus will be convinced that employment decisions are a valid reason for accessing someone’s credit report. Before requesting a copy of a job applicant’s credit report, the employer must notify the job applicant of this matter in writing.
If the information in the credit report plays a role in the company’s decision not to hire the applicant, the company must also provide written notice of this to the applicant. Likewise, your current employer may access your credit report, but they must notify you beforehand, and if they take an adverse action against you because of information on your credit report, they must also notify you of this.
If a prospective employer refuses to hire you based on your credit report, or if your current employer takes an adverse action against you because of it, you have the right to dispute the credit report if it contains errors. You also have the right to dispute the employer’s decision. The Huntsville Fair Credit Reporting Act lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can help you dispute an employment decision related to your credit report.
What to Do if Employer Unfairly Refused to Hire Because of Credit History?
When employers refuse to hire employees because of negative marks on their credit reports, such as late payments or bankruptcy filings, it is a case of the poor getting poorer. Where will you get the money to repay your debts if no one will hire you and give you employment income? You certainly cannot borrow it from a bank, not with your credit score.
The first step is to read your credit report carefully to see if there is outdated or inaccurate information on it. If there is, you should contact the credit bureau and then send the employer a corrected version of your credit report. With or without errors on your credit report, you should hire a lawyer to help you dispute your employer’s decision to use your credit score against you.
HKM Employment Attorneys For Credit Report Issues
The Huntsville employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can give you advice about adverse actions related to your low credit score. Contact our attorneys in Huntsville, Alabama, to set up a consultation.
