Employment law knowledge

[sadmin]

Does anyone here have any knowledge about possible legal pitfalls when making hiring decisions based upon the eeoc guidelines? More specifically, those that hire, do you use social networking sites to screen possible applicants despite the legality issues? Im in need of some info. or open discussion.
thanks

[ToddG]

Nothing in this post should be considered legal advice. For proper legal advice, consult with a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction who is especially qualified to deal with issues of this particular nature.

Most smart employers nowadays do check MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites for prospective candidates who have reached a point of likely employment. It is also increasingly common to see background checks or at least credit checks.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no liability exposure for locating and examining information about an applicant that said applicant himself published online for all to see.

The only "pitfall" would be if you used something you learned (religion, national origin, etc.) in an illegal way when making hiring decisions.

If someone's Facebook page identifies him as, say, Muslim and your articulated reason for turning him down for a job is that he's Muslim, you've obviously violated EEO.

If someone's Twitter account details his last three jobs, all of which he quit because he doesn't actually like to work or because he kept punching his boss in the head, it's completely legitimate for you to use that as a reason to discontinue his application.

[John_Wayne777]

There's nothing wrong with using networking sites to screen applicants. What you cannot do is use race, religion, national origin, sex or age (if they are over 45) as a disqualifying factor unless you can come up with a BFOQ for the age or sex requirement.

...and good luck doing that.

There's nothing illegal about looking up an applicant's facebook/myspace/whatever page and seeing what they have posted there. If you're looking at the pages and saying to yourself "Oh...he's black. Reject pile." that would be illegal. If you look at his facebook page and say to yourself "Oh...he belongs to a rape porn enthusiast group. Reject pile." that would be perfectly legal.

[kwelz]

Don't take this as legal advice!

I used to work in staffing. All I did was hire and fire people. Before I even interviewed someone I knew every detail I could find about them from myspace, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

All this information is public and can be used for grounds to hire or not hire someone.

[sadmin]

Thank you all. Im asking because I spoke to an attorney who said that its unethical and illegal depending on how you use the information... so heres a scenario.

John applies at Acme. Acme visits facebook upon receiving Johns resume. Acme sees that John is a muslim. Acme then puts Johns resume in the reject pile.
John contacts Acme and says, "Hey, whats the deal, I thought we were moving forward?" Acme says "Naaa we went with another candidate."

If John says why, does Acme have to tell John why? If they do, (which I dont know why they would, as they would anticipate litigious results...) can John can file a complaint?

OK, so the question im asking is, can anything happen to facebook in this scenario? Can they be held accountable for hosting the information, although its on the public domain?

[sadmin]

Don't take this as legal advice!

I used to work in staffing. All I did was hire and fire people. Before I even interviewed someone I knew every detail I could find about them from myspace, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

All this information is public and can be used for grounds to hire or not hire someone.

What if you had already interviewed them? Then researched them...did your HR dept worry about the ramifications there?

[ST911]

There's something wrong with employers that are NOT using the web to background their applicants.

Permissibility of doing so is pretty well established. Many employers are asking for that information outright, and having applicants disclose their past and present email addresses, webpages, blogs, forum IDs, etc.

[chadbag]

What if you had already interviewed them? Then researched them...did your HR dept worry about the ramifications there?

I am not a lawyer, and I don't even pretend to play one on TV, nor did I stay at a holiday inn express last night.

Did they already make the job offer (based on the above and your previous post with John/ACME)? Just wondering, as that probably is more of a commitment than merely interviewing and saying that you would get back with them or call them back for further interviews.

If they say, no thanks, I would never say why. Just something along the lines of, "another candidate came up who fit the bill better" or something pretty generic and innocuous. If John asks why, just repeat that line or whatever other generic line you come up with.

This all is an example why, if you dabble in social media, you want to be very careful about what you say/post and what you make public.

[sadmin]

Yes, in that scenario they had already made the offer. Its a worst case scenario.
Truth be told, this revolves around a project im working on. Statics have shown that the amount of social networking profiles that are are public are dropping fast. Im looking to alleviate that, but my attorney has told me that the eeoc will shut me down as soon as a complaint is filed. Im no attorney, and understand you fellas arent either, but I have to disagree with her.
If there is separate entity, that hosts public information, why would itself be under scrutiny if some schmuck HR rep admitted to using the entity to screen a candidate either before or after an interview?

Thanks for the information, im reading articles out the wahzoo, but wanted some discussion from those that are business owners or just have insight.

[Outlander Systems]

OK, so the question im asking is, can anything happen to facebook in this scenario? Can they be held accountable for hosting the information, although its on the public domain?

Negative. By agreeing to their terms of service, you're essentially waiving your rights to complain. You're, in essence, handing over your information to them, to use at their discretion. It's physically stored in their servers, not yours, so...