After years of squabbling, business and labor groups have finally hammered out a ban on credit checks for thousands of New Yorkers seeking retail, restaurant and even dog-walking jobs.
Last Thursday, the City Council approved a bill banning credit checks for workers in the city’s largest employment sectors, with some key exceptions.
The Partnership for New York City, a business group, fought to preserve credit checks for employees with access to trade secrets and IT networks, and those who have fiduciary responsibilities.
The two sides squared off on the question of whether a job-seeker’s credit history provides any meaningful insight into a candidate’s potential job performance—and the possibility that worker will commit fraud.
In-depth research by liberal economic research group Demos shows no evidence of a correlation between a person’s credit history and how successful or conscientious that person is on the job.
“Credit discrimination is often times an unnecessary obstacle to New Yorkers getting jobs, and we will continue to work with the City Council to help put more New Yorkers on pathways to jobs,” said Ishanee Parikh of the mayor’s office.
Following massive cybersecurity breaches, however, employers want all vetting tools, said Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City.
The bill’s sponsor, councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), said, “Credit checks for employment unfairly lock New Yorkers out of jobs.”
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