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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Employment 
for All Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. USE OF CREDIT CHECKS PROHIBITED FOR EMPLOY-
MENT PURPOSES. 
Section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 
U.S.C. 1681b) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(3)(B), by inserting ‘‘, sub-
ject to the requirements of subsection (b)’’ after 
‘‘purposes’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) by amending the paragraph head-
ing to read as follows: ‘‘USE
OF CON-
SUMER REPORTS FOR EMPLOYMENT PUR-
POSES’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by redesig-
nating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) 
and (II), respectively, and by moving such 
subclauses two ems to the right; 
(iii) by redesignating subparagraphs 
(A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec-
tively, and by moving such clauses two ems 
to the right; 
(iv) by striking the period at the end 
of clause (ii) (as so redesignated) and in-
serting ‘‘; and’’; 
(v) by striking ‘‘agency may furnish’’ 
and inserting ‘‘agency— 
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‘‘(A) may furnish’’; and 
(vi) by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraph: 
‘‘(B) except as provided in paragraph (5), 
may not furnish a consumer report with respect 
to any consumer in which any information con-
tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 
creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca-
pacity to an employer if the employer seeks to 
use such information in a denial of employment 
or any other decision made for employment pur-
poses.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSUMER REPORTS 
BEARING ON THE CONSUMER’S CREDITWORTHINESS, 
CREDIT STANDING, OR CREDIT CAPACITY.— 
‘‘(A) EXCEPTIONS.—An employer may use 
a consumer report with respect to any con-
sumer in which any information contained in 
the report bears on the consumer’s credit-
worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity 
in a decision made for employment purposes or 
before taking an adverse action for employment 
purposes only if the consumer authorizes the 
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procurement of the report as described in para-
graph (2)(A)(ii) and— 
‘‘(i) the consumer applies for, or cur-
rently holds, employment that requires the 
consumer to be eligible for access to classi-
fied information; or 
‘‘(ii) when otherwise required by law. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A person who seeks to 
obtain or use a consumer report with respect to 
any consumer in which any information con-
tained in the report bears on the consumer’s 
creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit ca-
pacity may not deny employment to the con-
sumer or make any other decision for employ-
ment purposes with respect to the consumer be-
cause the consumer has not authorized the pro-
curement of the report as described in para-
graph (2)(A)(ii).’’. 
Æ 
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