February 2012 Blog Posts
A growing number of states have followed Washington's
lead and passed legislation limiting use of credit reports for employment
background screening purposes - to positions for which that information is "substantially
job related". Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, California,
Illinois, Maryland & Connecticut have passed such laws and many more are in
the process of doing so.
Washington law does not specifically define the term
"substantially job related" - leaving it instead to the employer and
(unfortunately) the courts to decide. Other states have done a better job.
Illinois, for example defines "job-relatedness" as follows:
State or federal law requires bonding or
other security...
How
to Run a Credit Check on a Prospective Tenant
Tenant screening
is a process used primarily by residential
landlords
and property managers to evaluate prospective
tenants. The purpose is to assess the likelihood the tenant will fulfill the
terms of the lease or rental agreement and
tenant credit checks are an important part of this evaluation process.
Credit
reports are a type of consumer report as defined and by the federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA). The purchase and delivery of credit reports is tightly
regulated because of the sensitive nature of the information, as well as privacy
and identity theft concerns.
If...