WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are reporting they have signed an information sharing agreement that seeks to create a formal partnership to “better protect American families and to address practices that harm workers in the gig economy and other labor markets.
The agencies said that two areas of immediate concern include employer surveillance and employer-driven debt, and further stated the agreement will help to identify and end financial practices that harm workers and to enhance the enforcement of federal consumer financial protection and labor laws and regulations.
The CFPB and NLRB said they share interests in protecting American workers in labor and financial markets.
‘Harm’ to Honest Businesses
“The CFPB and NLRB’s signed agreement supports the two agencies’ collaboration on related efforts, and recognizes the overlap of potentially harmful conduct that may pose risks to consumers and workers under federal consumer financial protection law and the National Labor Relations Act,” the agencies said. “In particular, the CFPB has been focused on restoring competition to consumer financial markets to benefit families and honest businesses alike. Consumers and honest businesses can be harmed when anti-competitive financial practices are used to trap workers into jobs or harvest personal data from workers to benefit certain firms.”
In making the announcement it was noted that in 2022 the CFPB launched efforts to learn more about the risks consumers face from their employers.
“The CFPB’s Request for Information from the public, along with its roundtable event with worker organizations and labor unions, revealed the financial dangers posed to consumers going into work every day,” the agencies stated.
Examples Cited
Among the examples cited:
- Employer-driven debt. “Accepting a job can also mean falling into doom loops of debt. Organizations reported to the CFPB that workers may increasingly have to personally shoulder debt for employer-mandated training or equipment that they might not need, or that may be more expensive or harmful than what they might purchase in a competitive market. As a result, workers are often saddled with significant debt that may be owed to employers or pursued by third-party debt collectors and that stymies them from changing jobs for better wages or working conditions.”
- Employer surveillance and selling personal data. “Workers may not realize that employer surveillance tools – used to track things like worker productivity – can continue to track them outside of working hours, and the companies that own the surveillance tools might sell worker data to financial institutions, insurers, and other employers. Certain actions by these surveillance companies may be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act along with other consumer financial protection laws.”
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