Employment law knowledge

[Heavy Metal]

I do not use my real identity on facebook anymore than I use it here.

[Hat Creek]

Have you ever transmitted an electronic image of yourself via the internet?

What sort of image and who did you send it to?

Have you ever posted an electronic image of yourself on an internet site?

Have you used an alias to transmit electronic images over the internet?

What type of images? How often?

What alias names have you used in conjunction with the internet?

_______________________________

From a form completed prior to a polygraph test.

[Left Sig]

Are you hosting a website that publishes personal information about people with their consent? Or are you using such websites to screen candidates for a different business?

When you say "shut me down", do you mean your website, or your business?

If you have a website, the most important thing is that the people have consented to their information being publicly posted. If so you should be OK. If you are posting info without permission, then that's a different story.

In my experience, some attorneys I've dealt with have been very conservative in their advice, trying to stay far away from anything that might draw a legal challenge. Avoiding even the possibility of a claim, rather than providing advice on how far you can legally go and still have a viable defense against a claim. Sounds like your attorney is taking this approach.

[sadmin]

Are you hosting a website that publishes personal information about people with their consent? Or are you using such websites to screen candidates for a different business?

When you say "shut me down", do you mean your website, or your business?

If you have a website, the most important thing is that the people have consented to their information being publicly posted. If so you should be OK. If you are posting info without permission, then that's a different story.

In my experience, some attorneys I've dealt with have been very conservative in their advice, trying to stay far away from anything that might draw a legal challenge. Avoiding even the possibility of a claim, rather than providing advice on how far you can legally go and still have a viable defense against a claim. Sounds like your attorney is taking this approach.

I appreciate that advice. Thats what I was thinking, she completely avoided any idea of me circumventing the law. I do not have anything setup at this time. It would be totally consensual and optional.

[Alpha Sierra]

I have a Linkedin profile/account for professional/career purposes.

I have no facebook/twitter/myspace/google/anything account or pages or profiles.

I routinely google/search engine my name and happily find little to nothing about me. I do find a lot of things about artists who share my name but are not me.

I like my anonymity.

And yes, I am sure people get denied jobs for all kinds of EEOC-violating reasons and no one can prove it. It's just the way it is.

[Alpha Sierra]

Have you ever transmitted an electronic image of yourself via the internet?

What sort of image and who did you send it to?

Have you ever posted an electronic image of yourself on an internet site?

Have you used an alias to transmit electronic images over the internet?

What type of images? How often?

What alias names have you used in conjunction with the internet?

_______________________________

From a form completed prior to a polygraph test.

I would walk away from any employment application process that asked those questions.

[Left Sig]

I appreciate that advice. Thats what I was thinking, she completely avoided any idea of me circumventing the law. I do not have anything setup at this time. It would be totally consensual and optional.

Remember, this country has an overabundance of lawyers, and half of them graduated in the bottom half of their class!

I'm not advocating that you circumvent the law. But if you ARE within the law and have a viable defense to a claim, I don't like it when lawyers try to steer you clear of anything that could be remotely used against you.

I've seen this happen. Worst example is laying off high performing employees along with poor performing employees that are part of a protected class. HR was afraid of lawsuits by the poor performing protected-class employees so they decided to lay off entire departments without regard to performance. That way they could claim it was simply a matter of where you were assigned, and nothing else.

The surviving departments were not allowed to lay off their low performers and keep the high performers from the eliminated departments. This amounts to actively screwing the business to avoid an unfounded legal claim that could easily have been defended by referencing annual performance reviews and education level differences between the good and bad employees.

[John_Wayne777]

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?

If networking sites are off limits to employers it's going to be news to just about every HR person in the country.

The anti-discrimination laws are clear about the categories of information you can't use as a basis of discrimination...and facebook ain't one of them.

[Hat Creek]

I would walk away from any employment application process that asked those questions.

No dis-respect intended, but places that ask those questions will be best served by those that do walk away.

[ToddG]

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.

Did Acme put him in the pile because he's Muslim? If so, Acme is screwed because that's illegal. It does not matter where the information came from. EEO is about the basis upon which people are hired, fired, promoted, etc. So whether you read it on FaceSpace, heard it from a reference, or happened to see him walking out of a mosque one afternoon it's all the same.