Bill Would Close Privacy Loophole
Anti-discrimination laws prevent California employers from asking job applicants certain questions about their lifestyle or medical history. But for about $100, employers can purchase a “consumer investigative report” that is likely to contain answers to many off-limit questions.
Legislation coming up for a vote in the state Assembly next week would limit the content of consumer investigative reports--packages of information containing credit information, arrest records, marital status, educational credentials and personal and health characteristics. The legislation, proposed by Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-San Jose), would also limit the kinds of questions outside investigators can ask when performing background checks on job applicants.
Consumer investigative reports caused a big stir two years ago, when Delta Air Lines hired Equifax Inc. to check out Pan American World Airways employees it planned to hire after acquiring now-defunct Pan Am’s routes. Equifax, one of the nation’s three largest credit reporting agencies, is the largest producer of consumer investigative reports.
New York state prosecutors charged that Equifax, in violation of state law, routinely asked applicants questions about physical and psychological disabilities, club memberships and arrest records. Without admitting guilt, Equifax agreed to stop asking those questions. However, the company may obtain the information from public documents and other sources.
The California legislation would prohibit inclusion of disabilities--including such diseases and conditions as cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure--on consumer investigative reports. It would also ban most adverse credit information and criminal convictions more than 7 years old.
The bill contains an exemption that worries privacy advocates: It permits inclusion of old credit and criminal information if the job pays more than $30,000 a year.
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Now your money does the walking: “Final notice,” states invoices from American Yellow Pages arriving at offices in Southern California this week.
Featuring the familiar “walking fingers,” the notices asking for $100 or more look like unpaid bills. They are actually clever solicitations from a Dallas-based company claiming to publish “the national Yellow Pages.” A disclaimer appears on the form, but it is lighter than the rest of the type.
The solicitation contains no information about the American Yellow Pages, so we called a customer service number for details. An attendant told us that the company makes 50,000 books, which it distributes nationwide to “all public libraries, all chambers of commerce, all government agencies and all public hospitals.” People who buy ads get a book too, the attendant said.
Somehow, it doesn’t add up.
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Borrowing costs down: Competition among bankers for home equity business forced down the cost of the popular loans last year, the Consumer Banking Assn. reports.
In its annual study, the CBA said average fees on home equity lines fell by more than one-third to $290 last year, from $460 in 1991. In nearly two-thirds of loans issued, the lender waived most of the fees.
Interest rates also fell last year, but not as significantly. The CBA reported that the average rate charged on home equity lines slid to 1.71% over the prime rate in 1992, from 1.81% over prime the year before.
The CBA is a Washington-based industry group whose members include 750 of the nation’s largest banks and thrifts.
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Odds and ends: Next comes the sleeves from our vests: Tom’s of Maine donated $375,000 worth of deodorant to Second Harvest, a group that distributes goods to homeless shelters. Tom’s of Maine recalled the deodorant after 50% of its customers complained it didn’t work. . . . The suspense is over: Chrysler Corp. Chairman Robert J. Eaton said the company will remain the only one of Detroit’s Big Three without a credit card.
