Some employment law attorneys have cautioned employers against using credit history as part of employment screening background checks since credit problems don’t have much bearing on job success and screening people out of employment offers due to credit may have a discriminatory impact.

For example, during a May 20, 2010 webinar, Reid Bowman, Esq., general counsel for ELT, commented, “[With the current infusion of dollars into the EEOC budget], the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is more energized with investigations and investigators with a renewed focus on systemic issues such as increased EEOC scrutiny on company background screening processes, for example – arrest and conviction records and credit cards – since they may have an adverse impact on certain population groups.”

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