The president of the union representing Nova Scotia's public servants says she's opposed to instituting mandatory credit checks of people applying for financial positions in the government sector.

Joan Jessome of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union was responding to comments made by an official with the Capital District Health Authority who suggested credit checks might be necessary in light of two recent incidents of theft by employees.

On Thursday, the chief financial officer for the province's largest health authority announced that one employee had been fired and another suspended without pay after two unrelated "discrepancies" were uncovered in the health agency's finances.

"We don't, at this point, conduct credit checks when people are being hired into our financial operations, and whether or not we should is something that we'll be exploring further going forward," said Amanda Whitewood.

In one case allegedly involving an employee in the health authority's business office, an internal auditing process turned up discrepancies amounting to nearly $170,000, Whitewood said. The employee responsible was fired and the case turned over to police, who are still investigating. The money was not recovered.

In a second case reportedly involving an employee in the accounts payable department, a bank discovered a discrepancy of less than $5,000 in the authority's accounts and alerted police, who then alerted the health authority. The employee has been suspended without pay while the health authority waits for more information from the police.

Jessome said her union condemns theft at work but that credit checks won't do anything to stop it.

"If an employee's dishonest, having a credit check is not going to make a difference," she said.

What's more, credit checks can contain information that is several years out of date, Jessome said.

"Having a bad credit rating doesn't make you a dishonest person," she told CBC News. "Using that as a way in future hires to discredit people working in finance when they made a mistake or didn't get a bill paid on time, I think they're going way out on a limb here."