Governor Quinn signs law to end pre-employment credit checks

This week re-ignited the debate regarding pre-employment background checks and the role they should play in our society. A law has been signed in Illinois which will prohibit employers from discriminating between possible employees based on their credit history.

This brings up the interesting question of whether an employer ought to know how well their employees handle their own finances. If they have poor personal credit, then surely they would replicate this lack of financial insight in their career? Is it not employers right to know this? However, such a check also doesn’t account for those individuals who have been unfortunate; or, as Governer Quinn puts it, “a job seeker’s ability to earn a decent living should not depend on how well they are weathering the greatest economic recession since the 1930s”. It would surely be unfair to discriminate against an individual who has simply been unlucky in this torrid economic time.

The new law will take effect on January 1st 2011, and I’m sure that this will not be the last of the debates surrounding the subject before that date arrives. Governer Quinn released this statement on August 10th regarding the law and, should other states decide to follow this example, this could result in a huge change in pre-employment background checks.
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