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Employers' use of credit reports in California increasingly restricted

Jan 08, 2012 Philip Burgess

Checking a credit report of a consumer or debtor is essential to making financial decisions and payment schedules. They reveal tendencies and overall credit worth, but in the state of California, it will no longer be legal to check credit reports of individuals for most hiring decisions, WHEC News 10 reports. Phil Blair, executive officer of Manpower Staffing in San Diego, told the news source that it's unfair for employers to use credit reports when judging a candidate. "You get one credit report back and it is a really negative one and you have two or three candidates to pick from, your tendency is not to pick the one with the negative credit check," Blair said. "It is not indicative of the person's ability or trustworthiness to do the job." While it may be unfair to judge a person's ability for a position through their credit report, debt collectors should acquire this information to monitor their debtors. According to the legislation posed for 2012 in California, employers may still use credit reports on hiring decisions for managerial, Department of Justice, law enforcement positions and jobs that include handling confidential information, such as bank, credit card details and Social Security numbers.