Equal Employment for All Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3697 To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Mr. COHEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Employment 4 for All Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3697.IH H3697 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3697 IH SEC. 2. USE OF CREDIT CHECKS PROHIBITED FOR EMPLOY- 1 MENT PURPOSES. 2 Section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 3 U.S.C. 1681b) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)(3)(B), by inserting ‘‘, sub- 5 ject to the requirements of subsection (b)’’ after 6 ‘‘purposes’’; and 7 (2) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1)— 9 (i) by amending the paragraph head- 10 ing to read as follows: ‘‘USE OF CON- 11 SUMER REPORTS FOR EMPLOYMENT PUR- 12 POSES’’; 13 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by redesig- 14 nating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 15 and (II), respectively, and by moving such 16 subclauses two ems to the right; 17 (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs 18 (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec- 19 tively, and by moving such clauses two ems 20 to the right; 21 (iv) by striking the period at the end 22 of clause (ii) (as so redesignated) and in- 23 serting ‘‘; and’’; 24 (v) by striking ‘‘agency may furnish’’ 25 and inserting ‘‘agency— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3697.IH H3697 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3697 IH ‘‘(A) may furnish’’; and 1 (vi) by adding at the end the following 2 new subparagraph: 3 ‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), 4 may not furnish a consumer report with respect 5 to any consumer in which any information con- 6 tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 7 creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca- 8 pacity to an employer if the employer seeks to 9 use such information in a denial of employment 10 or any other decision made for employment pur- 11 poses.’’; and 12 (B) by adding at the end the following new 13 paragraph: 14 ‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSUMER REPORTS 15 BEARING ON THE CONSUMER’S CREDITWORTHINESS, 16 CREDIT STANDING, OR CREDIT CAPACITY.— 17 ‘‘(A) EXCEPTIONS.—An employer may use 18 a consumer report with respect to any con- 19 sumer in which any information contained in 20 the report bears on the consumer’s credit- 21 worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity 22 in a decision made for employment purposes or 23 before taking an adverse action for employment 24 purposes only if the consumer authorizes the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3697.IH H3697 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3697 IH procurement of the report as described in para- 1 graph (2)(A)(ii) and— 2 ‘‘(i) the consumer applies for, or cur- 3 rently holds, employment that requires the 4 consumer to be eligible for access to classi- 5 fied information; or 6 ‘‘(ii) when otherwise required by law. 7 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A person who seeks to 8 obtain or use a consumer report with respect to 9 any consumer in which any information con- 10 tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 11 creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca- 12 pacity may not deny employment to the con- 13 sumer or make any other decision for employ- 14 ment purposes with respect to the consumer be- 15 cause the consumer has not authorized the pro- 16 curement of the report as described in para- 17 graph (2)(A)(ii).’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3697.IH H3697 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS