Murphy, Blumenthal Introduce Legislation To Prohibit Employers From Requiring Credit Report Disclosure

Press Release

U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) this week joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 14 other U.S. Senators in introducing the Equal Employment for All Act to prohibit employers from requiring potential employees to disclose their credit history as part of the job application process. It was previously thought that credit history may provide insight into an individual's character, but research has shown that an individual's credit rating has little to no correlation with his or her ability to be successful in the workplace.

"Your credit history has no bearing on your ability to do your job. Right now, the law places unreasonable and arbitrary barriers in front of people trying to find good jobs that make it easier for them to care for themselves and build a better life for their families," said Murphy. "The Equal Employment for All Act will right an illogical wrong, and I'm committed to seeing it enacted into law."

"Credit ratings say nothing about a person's character or ability to succeed in the workplace, and there should be no place for them in a job application. For individuals struggling with student loans, medical debt or other financial challenges, the last thing they need is another artificial, unfair hurdle standing in the way of gainful employment," Blumenthal said.

"A bad credit rating is far more often the result of unexpected medical costs, unemployment, economic downturns, or other bad breaks than it is a reflection on an individual's character or abilities," Warren said. "Families have not fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and too many Americans are still searching for jobs. This is about basic fairness -- let people compete on the merits, not on whether they already have enough money to pay all their bills."

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