HR and Facebook: Companies that use social networking sites to screen applicants could be breaking the law

It's hard for company's HR and hiring managers to weed out applicants during this time of high job applicant numbers and many are using social media sites to cut names, but they may be walking toward thin ice as they follow a national trend of using social media networks to screen potential employees. A recent national study found that employers were impressed by personality, creativity and communications sills found via the Internet. But employers also reject job candidates for inappropriate photo, content relating to drinking or drugs and misrepresentation of skills. However, these businesses could be violating, or close to violating, anti-discrimination laws that have protected workers for decades.

Right now, there are no case law restrictions to the use of social networks like Facebook and MySpace by employers, but there will be. Lawyers say they have already noticed an increase in interest from business clients about the do's and dont's with social media networks, particularly when it comes to hiring. Maybe 2010 will be the year for creating policies to guide the use of social networks for both prospective and existing employees.

In a survey of hiring managers conducted earlier this yer for CareerBuilder.com 45 percent reported using social media in their background checks of prospective employees, up from 22 percent a year ago. Of those 2,600 mangers, 35 percent found something that caused them to not hire the candidate. This type of screening is becoming much more popular, but there is very little legal guidance for people.

Since sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be personal, employers must be cautious that the information they obtain doesn't result in discrimination by race, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation. All are protected classes under law. For instance, employers would be breaking the law if they screened applicants, even before interviewing them, based on racial or ethnic details gleaned from social media sites. Also, employers are asking for trouble in thy reject an applicant who discloses union organizing,smoking r drinking on a social media site. All are lawful activities in the job candidate decision making process.

What you see on a social media site may not be true of the person or it could be dated or a misrepresentation of that person of it could be picture of another person all together. Advisers are telling employers to never use what they find to make hiring decisions based on race, age, or sexual orientation. Also, that employers should include a broad statement in their application process that makes any discovery found online about someone fair game, some statement that says 'we do reference checking, including use of information in pubic domain.'

Social Media Advice from Employers:

• Have a consistent approach in the use of social media for screening job candidates' use it on all candidates for a position or none.
• Do not access social networking sites through deceitful or fraudulent means.
• Create a wall between the ultimate decision maker and the job screener so any legally protected information is not known by the decision maker.
• Consider the validity and accuracy of online data before making a decision.
• Tell all applicants in advance that the employer will be looking at social network sites as part of the review process.

Source: Star Tribune