Business Notes Employee Rights

Your resume was impressive. The job interview was flawless. You seemed to have that tempting new position in your pocket -- but you didn't get it.

What happened? Your prospective employer may have checked out your credit record. According to the Federal Trade Commission, employers are increasingly using credit reports as an easy -- and perhaps too facile -- means of ascertaining a job applicant's "honesty and personal integrity." Yet companies are required by law to inform job applicants if their credit record played a role in their rejection and to identify the source of the negative information. Many employers fail to follow that law, but the FTC is cracking down. Last week four companies, including St. Louis-based aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas and New York retailer Macy's, settled FTC charges that they failed to tell passed-over applicants their credit records had been examined. The companies agreed to give rejected job applicants the names and addresses of the credit agencies that may have been consulted.