Question: Can a credit card be a requirement of employment for jobs that incur expenses to be reimbursed?
Answer: There is nothing legally wrong with requiring that employees be able to incur expenses on behalf of the organization that will be reimbursed. Typically, to be able to do so, they will have to have a valid credit card. An individual’s credit status is not a protected ground under human rights legislation or the law generally; it is not illegal to choose not to employ a candidate because she does not have a credit card or because she is unwilling to use a personal credit card for employment-related expenses.
If this is going to be a requirement of the position, this should be made clear in all hiring materials and job postings — this is no different than requiring that candidates have a valid driver’s licence and unrestricted access to a vehicle for purposes of the job.
There may be a theoretical risk of a claim under the Ontario Human Rights Code for a reason other than credit status. Section 5 prevents employment-based discrimination on the basis of the individual’s Record of Offences. There are certain fraud-related offences which have long-term impacts on an individual’s ability to obtain credit. If an individual is unable to obtain a credit card because of her criminal record, and she is not hired as a result, she may claim that she is being discriminated against because of a protected ground. At most, however, the risk of this is minimal.
Stuart Rudner is a founding partner of Rudner MacDonald LLP, a Toronto-based employment law firm. He is the author of You’re Fired: Just Cause for Dismissal in Canada published by Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business. He can be reached at [email protected]. This article was co-written by Geoffrey Lowe, an associate with Rudner MacDonald. Geoffrey can be reached at [email protected].
