Tallahassee, FL – Legislation filed by Orlando Senator Gary Siplin to prohibit employers from using an individual’s credit history in hiring decisions passed from the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism today.
Senate Bill 102 seeks to prohibit employers from using a job applicant’s personal credit history as a criterion for hiring, except where credit history is substantially related to the position sought by the applicant. Even in the instances where permitted, the bill mandates that credit history cannot be the sole factor in determining whether an applicant is hired.
“I think it’s grossly unfair to consider a person’s credit history in the hiring process,” said Siplin, D-Orlando. “If you’re going to reject someone because they have been the victim of a bad economy, all you’re doing is creating more detriment to the State’s economy by increasing number of people on the unemployment rolls.”
An amendment offered to the bill by Committee Chairwoman Nancy Detert, R-Venice, expanded the prohibition to include insurers who make rating determinations – based partially or wholly on credit history – that ultimately result in a refusal to insure or a refusal to continue to insure an individual.
The companion to the Senate Bill 102, which passed out of the committee by 4-0 vote, is being sponsored in the Florida House of Representatives by Rep. Hazelle Rogers, D-Lauderdale Lakes.
The bill has two more committee stops in the Senate before it will be considered on the floor.
