INDUSTRY NEWS
Suit claims electric utility provider denies jobs to those with bad credit
A class-action suit filed against Commonwealth Edison – commonly known as ComEd – alleges that the utility company denies jobs to applicants who have poor credit histories in violation of the Illinois Employee Credit Privacy Act.
The plaintiff in the case claims that she and at least 50 other applicants in the state of Illinois were denied jobs with ComEd – the largest electric utility provider in Illinois – based on the results of credit checks that the company procured on them as part of the application process, a practice the suit claims violates the Illinois Employee Credit Privacy Act (IECPA).
Enacted in 2011, the IECPA generally prohibits employers from making any employment decision based on an individual's credit report or credit history. It also prohibits employers from obtaining a credit report regarding an applicant or employee, and from asking an applicant or employee about their credit history.
The suit seeks to represent two classes of ComEd applicants in the state of Illinois, one of which will include those who applied and were denied employment with ComEd based on the information obtained in their credit report.
The case is Rivera v. Commonwealth Edison Co. et al., case number 17-CH-07460, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
Source: Law360.com, 5/26/2017