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Credit Report - Ongoing Employment

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Question: 
Every place that I have looked states that you may pull a credit report for employment, for hiring, promotion, reassignment or retention. If you hire someone, and two days or a month later you pull a credit report, would that be considered permissible as ongoing employment?
Answer: 

For obtaining credit reports for employment purposes, you need specific written authorization from the individual. Unlike credit, where there is a presumed permissible purpose, employment credit verification requires an authorizing signature. There have been some discussions about whether a blanket authorization can be signed, or whether each individual credit report check requires separate authorization. I don't know that there is a definitive answer on that issue. You should consult your legal counsel for HR issues on that point. There are other issues also that could be sticky legal issues that you should discuss with counsel: things such as whether you are consistent in how and for whom you pull credit reports, whether you are consistent in how you respond to information in the reports, etc, things that could wind up getting you hit with a wrongful termination or employment discrimination lawsuit.

First published on BankersOnline.com 11/16/09

First published on 11/16/2009

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