Please advise if it is legal for a company to fire you on the spot if given papers to sign for the employer to do a background check and run your credit, and you decline to sign

Thanks
PAGirl :(

Please advise if it is legal for a company to fire you on the spot if given papers to sign for the employer to do a background check and run your credit, and you decline to sign

Thanks
PAGirl :(


What field are you in? Some areas of employment may REQUIRE a background check while others really need to ask permission.

Also, what state are you in?

If your job does not require a background check, and you are in an at-will employment state, an employer can termininate an employee for almost any reason other than health or discriminatory such as age, race, creed, etc.

I am from Pennsylvania, I do work for a financial company that insures title policies for refinances ectc...

In most cases, your potential employer can refuse to hire you if you refuse to a background check. However, if the background check is performed by a third party, as with a professional background companies, you must be given a list of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). These rights not include being informed that the test but also information about disputing the results of the initial background checks.

I will be with my employer for two years this upcoming July, they didn't perform a background check when they first hired me or a credit check, is it still legal to be fired if you deny to sign some papers?

It depends why the information is needed. For example, it can be seen as discriminatory to require credit reports for jobs that don't require fiduciary responsibility. That is because it may be seen as have a stronger impact on certain protected groups of persons. On the other hand, if you are in a job that does require fiduciary responsiblity, their request may be valid. Many employers recommend that employers provide some sort of compensation in exchange for the signature...compensation that may be as simple as a lunch.

To make a long story short on this, your employer was probably working within its rights (and duty to its customers).