I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4983 

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 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. 

NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. LEE of California) 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Employment 

5 for All Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. USE OF CREDIT CHECKS PROHIBITED FOR EMPLOY2 MENT PURPOSES. 

3 (a) PROHIBITION FOR EMPLOYMENT AND ADVERSE

4 ACTION.—Section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

5 (15 U.S.C. 1681b) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)(3)(B), by inserting ‘‘within 

7 the restrictions set forth in subsection (b)’’ after 

8 ‘‘purposes’’; 

9 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (g) 

10 as subsections (c) through (h), respectively; and 

11 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol12 lowing new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(b) USE OF CERTAIN CONSUMER REPORT PROHIB14 ITED FOR EMPLOYMENT PURPOSES OR ADVERSE AC15 TION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—Except as pro17 vided in paragraph (3), a person, including a pro18 spective employer or current employer, may not use 

19 a consumer report or investigative consumer report, 

20 or cause a consumer report or investigative con21 sumer report to be procured, with respect to any 

22 consumer where any information contained in the re23 port bears on the creditworthiness, credit standing, 

24 or credit capacity of the consumer— 

25 ‘‘(A) for employment purposes; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) for making an adverse action, as de2 scribed in section 603(k)(1)(B)(ii). 

3 ‘‘(2) SOURCE OF CONSUMER REPORT IRRELE4 VANT.—The prohibition described in paragraph (1) 

5 shall apply even if the consumer consents or other6 wise authorizes the procurement or use of a con7 sumer report for employment purposes or in connec8 tion with an adverse action with respect to the con9 sumer. 

10 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding the prohi11 bitions set forth in this subsection, and consistent 

12 with the other sections of this Act, an employer may 

13 use a consumer report with respect to a consumer 

14 in the following situations: 

15 ‘‘(A) When the consumer applies for, or 

16 currently holds, employment that requires na17 tional security clearance. 

18 ‘‘(B) When otherwise required by law. 

19 ‘‘(4) EFFECT ON DISCLOSURE AND NOTIFICA20 TION REQUIREMENTS.—The exceptions described in 

21 paragraph (3) shall have no effect upon the other re22 quirements of this Act, including requirements in re23 gards to disclosure and notification to a consumer 

24 when permissibly using a consumer report for emVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:47 Aug 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4983.IH H4983

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1 ployment purposes or for making an adverse action 

2 against the consumer.’’; and 

3 (4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (i) by amending the paragraph head6 ing to read as follows: ‘‘USE OF CON7 SUMER REPORTS FOR EMPLOYMENT PUR8 POSES’’; 

9 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by redesig10 nating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 

11 and (II), respectively, and by moving such 

12 subclauses two ems to the right; 

13 (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

14 (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec15 tively, and by moving such clauses two ems 

16 to the right; 

17 (iv) by striking the period at the end 

18 of clause (ii) (as so redesignated) and in19 serting ‘‘; and’’; 

20 (v) by striking ‘‘agency may furnish’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘agency— 

22 ‘‘(A) may furnish’’; and 

23 (vi) by adding at the end the following 

24 new subparagraph: 


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1 ‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), 

2 may not furnish a consumer report with respect 

3 to any consumer in which any information con4 tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 

5 creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca6 pacity to an employer if the employer seeks to 

7 use such information in a denial of employment 

8 or any other decision made for employment pur9 poses.’’; and 

10 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

11 paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSUMER REPORTS

13 BEARING ON THE CONSUMER’S CREDITWORTHINESS, 

14 CREDIT STANDING, OR CREDIT CAPACITY.— 

15 ‘‘(A) EXCEPTIONS.—An employer may use 

16 a consumer report with respect to any con17 sumer in which any information contained in 

18 the report bears on the consumer’s credit19 worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity 

20 in a decision made for employment purposes or 

21 before taking an adverse action for employment 

22 purposes only if the consumer authorizes the 

23 procurement of the report as described in para24 graph (2)(A)(ii) and— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the consumer applies for, or cur2 rently holds, employment that requires the 

3 consumer to be eligible for access to classi4 fied information; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) when otherwise required by law. 

6 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A person who seeks to 

7 obtain or use a consumer report with respect to 

8 any consumer in which any information con9 tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 

10 creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca11 pacity may not deny employment to the con12 sumer or make any other decision for employ13 ment purposes with respect to the consumer be14 cause the consumer has not authorized the pro15 curement of the report as described in para16 graph (2)(A)(ii).’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS AND CROSS REF18 ERENCES.—The Fair Credit Reporting Act is further 

19 amended as follows: 

20 (1) In section 603 (15 U.S.C. 1681a)— 

21 (A) in subsection (d)(3), by striking 

22 ‘‘604(g)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘604(h)(3)’’; and 

23 (B) in subsection (o), by striking ‘‘A com24 munication’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:47 Aug 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4983.IH H4983

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1 strictions set forth in subsection 604(b), a com2 munication’’. 

3 (2) In section 604 (15 U.S.C. 1681b)— 

4 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘sub5 section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; 

6 (B) in subsection (c), as redesignated by 

7 subsection (a)(2) of this section— 

8 (i) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting 

9 ‘‘and subject to the restrictions set forth in 

10 subsection (b)’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; 

11 and 

12 (ii) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting 

13 ‘‘and subject to the restrictions set forth in 

14 subsection (b)’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’; 

15 (C) in subsection (d)(1), as redesignated 

16 by subsection (a)(2) of this section, by striking 

17 ‘‘subsection (e)’’ in both places that term ap18 pears and inserting ‘‘subsection (f)’’; and 

19 (D) in subsection (f), as redesignated by 

20 subsection (a)(2) of this section— 

21 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub22 section (c)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub23 section (d)(1)(B)’’; and 


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1 (ii) in paragraph (5), by striking 

2 ‘‘subsection (c)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub3 section (d)(1)(B)’’. 

4 (3) In section 607(e)(3)(A) (15 U.S.C. 

5 1681e(e)(3)(A)), by striking ‘‘604(b)(4)(E)(i)’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘604(c)(4)(E)(i)’’. 

7 (4) In section 609 (15 U.S.C. 1681g)— 

8 (A) in subsection (a)(3)(C)(i), by striking 

9 ‘‘604(b)(4)(E)(i)’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘604(c)(4)(E)(i)’’; and 

11 (B) in subsection (a)(3)(C)(ii), by striking 

12 ‘‘604(b)(4)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘604(c)(4)(A)’’. 

13 (5) In section 613(b) (15 U.S.C. 1681k(b)) by 

14 striking section ‘‘604(b)(4)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec15 tion 604(c)(4)(A)’’. 

16 (6) In section 615 (15 U.S.C. 1681m)— 

17 (A) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘sec18 tion 604(c)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

19 604(d)(1)(B)’’; 

20 (B) in subsection (d)(1)(E), by striking 

21 ‘‘section 604(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

22 604(f)’’; and 


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1 (C) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking 

2 ‘‘section 604(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

3 604(f)’’. 

Æ 


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