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Comment by dools | Hacker News Reader

I heard this for the first time on HN the other day. I think (and certainly hope) it's illegal for potential employers in Australia to use your credit file as a factor in deciding whether or not to hire you.

Not hiring people with bad credit seems to me to be patently absurd. Talk about kicking someone when they're down - as if non-payment of debt was a crime!

It seems that the likely result of this for most is the development of a disenfranchised underclass of black market employees.

Having healthcare attached to employment makes this all the more despicable.

Why aren't people in the U.S just rioting in the streets?! This is the real outrage.

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Not sure about hiring but I just checked my employment agreement (I'm in Oz) and my employer can definitely fire me if I declare bankruptcy:

  *the Company may terminate your employment without notice (no payment in lieu of notice will be paid) in any of the following circumstances:
    ×If you become unable to pay your  debts as they become due 
    ×If you are declared bankrupt;

What would be the point of firing you immediately on declaration of bankruptcy?

Does "unable to pay your debts as they become due" mean that if you make a late payment or get a month behind, they can fire you?

According to the letter of the contract, it sure seems that way.

I went over the contract with the HR team back in the states (I was transferred over to Oz) and they thought these clauses were very strange. Especially considering that Australian workers have much stronger labor rights in practically every other way compared to the US.

I'm Australian but not a lawyer... have heard "unable to pay debts as and when they fall due" as a definition of insolvency, which requires one to declare bankruptcy if directing, say, a limited liability company. The actual act of becoming bankrupt is separate to insolvency, though, so they're probably just trying to cover all bases.

Again, not a lawyer, and only passingly familiar with this stuff, so excuse me if I'm stating the obvious or if it's the same the world over.

Are you on a 457 visa by any chance?

yep

I suspect you'll find that clause in your contract is to protect your sponsoring employer from liability in the event that you declare bankruptcy. That is, they cease to be your sponsor and thus absolve themselves of any liability.

Because you'll become poor, and then medicaid and welfare will cover you, somewhat. It's a healthcare system with cracks, but it covers the elderly, college students, most of the employed and the poor, which is the vast majority of the voting populace.

> and the poor

The poor tend to have a lower rate than the rest of the population. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voter_Turnout_by_Inco...

I imagine this discrepancy is even larger for low-turnout elections but I haven't seen data to confirm or deny that suspicion.

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