New York City’s Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act bars most employers in the five boroughs from pulling or using your credit history when deciding whether to hire, fire, promote, or pay you. The law treats a credit request and an adverse decision based on credit information as separate violations, and it reaches almost every worker in the city, including interns and independent contractors. If an employer breaks the rule, you can file with the NYC Commission on Human Rights within one year or sue in court within three.
What the Act Prohibits
The banned conduct splits into two categories: gathering credit information and acting on it. An employer cannot request a credit report from any consumer reporting agency, and it cannot ask you directly about your credit score, number of accounts, late or missed payments, charged-off debts, collections, credit limits, prior inquiries, bankruptcies, judgments, or liens.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance Using a third-party service to collect the same information is treated the same as doing it directly.
Even if your credit information lands in the employer’s hands by accident, the law prohibits using it to influence any employment decision: hiring, firing, promotion, pay, or other terms of the job.2NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code Title 8 – Civil Rights Because each prohibited act counts separately, an employer that both pulled your credit and then relied on it to deny you a promotion has committed two violations.
Who Is Protected
If the job sits in New York City, you’re covered, no matter where the employer is headquartered. The law applies to employers with four or more workers, and that count includes the owner’s spouse, parents, or children if they work for the business.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance
Protection isn’t limited to traditional employees. Interns, independent contractors, and other non-traditional workers get the same safeguards. Labor organizations and employment agencies are also bound by the law, so a staffing firm can’t run your credit on a client’s behalf any more than the client could run it directly.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance
When Credit Checks Are Still Allowed
The law carves out narrow exemptions. If an employer claims one, the position has to genuinely fit the category; stretching an exemption to cover a role that doesn’t belong there is itself unlawful.
- Police officers, peace officers, and positions with an investigative function at the Department of Investigation.3NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code 8-107 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
- DOI background-check positions, but only appointed roles requiring a high degree of public trust. The Commission reads this narrowly: commissioner-level titles, general counsel positions with high-level decision-making authority, chief information and technology officers, and direct reports to an agency head.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance
- Jobs that city, state, or federal law requires to be bonded. The bonding has to be legally mandatory for the specific position, not an employer preference.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance
- Positions where federal or state law requires a security clearance, and only when the government itself is reviewing credit as part of the clearance process.3NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code 8-107 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
- Non-clerical positions with regular access to trade secrets, intelligence, or national security information. General company policies and handbooks don’t count as trade secrets under the law.2NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code Title 8 – Civil Rights
- Positions with signatory authority over third-party funds or assets worth $10,000 or more, and fiduciary roles with authority to enter financial agreements of $10,000 or more on the employer’s behalf.3NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code 8-107 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
- Roles whose regular duties include modifying the digital security systems that protect an employer’s or client’s networks or databases.3NYC.gov. New York City Administrative Code 8-107 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
- Positions where state or federal law, or a self-regulatory organization such as FINRA, requires the employer to review credit history. The exemption covers only the regulated roles, not everyone at the company.1NYC Commission on Human Rights. Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act: Legal Enforcement Guidance
The financial-authority and trade-secrets exemptions produce the most disputes in practice, because employers sometimes apply them to jobs that don’t actually meet the definition. An employer invoking an exemption should be ready to say which one and explain why your position fits.
FCRA Rules for Exempt Positions
When a position does fall into an exemption and a credit check is lawful, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act still governs how it’s done. Before pulling your report, the employer has to give you a clear written disclosure in a standalone document and obtain your written authorization.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1681b That disclosure can’t contain liability releases, application-accuracy certifications, or overly broad authorizations covering information the FCRA doesn’t allow, such as bankruptcies older than 10 years.5Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks on Prospective Employees: Keep Required Disclosures Simple
If the report turns up something the employer might use against you, it has to give you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights first, then wait long enough for you to dispute errors before issuing a final adverse-action notice. Skipping any step creates separate federal liability, with statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per violation for willful noncompliance, plus possible punitive damages and attorney’s fees.6Federal Trade Commission. Fair Credit Reporting Act
Retaliation Is Also Illegal
Complaining about a credit check you believe violates the law is protected activity under the NYC Human Rights Law. Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, cut your hours, reassign you to worse work, or take any other action that would deter a reasonable person from raising the concern. Protection applies whether you file a formal complaint, raise it internally with a manager, or help with someone else’s complaint.
Retaliation can be charged as a separate violation. An employer that ran an illegal credit check and then punished you for objecting faces liability for each act independently.
Deadlines to File
These deadlines are strict and missing them can forfeit your claim. A complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights must be filed within one year of the discriminatory act. For gender-based harassment the window is three years.7NYC.gov. Report Discrimination – CCHR If you prefer to file a lawsuit in court, you have three years from the date of the violation. An employer cannot contractually require a shorter deadline; any such provision is unenforceable under NYCHRL amendments that took effect in May 2024.
Picking a path matters. Filing with the Commission or with the New York State Division of Human Rights generally blocks you from later suing in court over the same conduct. One exception: if the Commission dismisses your complaint for administrative convenience, you can still go to court as if you had never filed.
How to File With the Commission
Start by gathering documentation. You need the employer’s legal name and address, and the names of the people who requested your credit information or made the adverse decision. Written evidence carries these cases: emails mentioning a credit check, application forms asking about financial history, notifications from a credit monitoring service showing the employer pulled your report, and any correspondence about the hiring or termination decision.
Send the employer a preservation notice as soon as you can. Once a company knows a claim may be coming, it has a legal obligation to stop destroying relevant records, including emails, internal communications, HR system data, applicant tracking records, and interview notes. Evidence that disappears after a preservation notice can hurt the employer badly at a hearing.
To file, contact the Law Enforcement Bureau of the NYC Commission on Human Rights. You can call (212) 416-0197, submit an inquiry through the online form, or have an attorney mail a verified complaint to the Commission at 22 Reade Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10007.8NYC Commission on Human Rights. Complaint Process The online form isn’t itself a formal complaint; it opens contact so the Commission can schedule an intake appointment. There is no filing fee.
Once the complaint is filed, the Commission notifies the employer and provides a copy. The employer must respond, and both sides can submit additional evidence during the investigation. If the Commission finds probable cause, the case can proceed to an administrative hearing.
Filing in Court Instead
You can skip the Commission and go straight to court. A lawsuit under the NYCHRL can be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction, with three years from the date of the violation to file. You can seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees.
The Commission route costs nothing, doesn’t require a lawyer, and comes with investigative help. A court action gives you access to a broader range of remedies, including punitive damages, but you carry the cost and burden of litigation. Most people without legal representation start with the Commission.
What You Can Recover
The Commission can impose civil penalties of up to $125,000 per violation. If the conduct was willful or malicious, the maximum rises to $250,000.9NYC.gov. The New York City Administrative Code, Title 8: Civil Rights Because each prohibited act counts separately, exposure for an employer that both pulled and then used your credit can add up fast.
On top of civil penalties, the Commission can award monetary damages to the person harmed, order policy changes, require anti-discrimination training, and mandate posted notices about employee rights.10NYC.gov. 2025 Settlement Highlights In court, NYCHRL damages are uncapped: no statutory ceiling applies to compensatory or punitive awards the way it does under some federal laws. Back pay for wages lost because of the decision, front pay when reinstatement isn’t practical, and emotional distress damages are all available.