Employers at risk of lawsuits by getting access to candidate's Facebook

[CreekDog]

There is often information in Facebook profiles that can't be asked for or used in hiring:

Race
Sex
Pregnancy
Religion
National origin
Disability (physical or mental, including HIV status)
Age (for workers over 40)
Military service or affiliation
Anticipated deployment with the Reserves or National Guard
Bankruptcy or bad debts
Genetic information
Citizenship status (for citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, refugees, and asylees)


If someone is not hired after an employer has accessed this information via use of the candidate's Facebook account, they're opening themselves up to an accusation that something in the profile was used as the basis of a decision not to hire.

(note: if a potential employer has the candidate's Facebook password, as some have been requesting, then that potential employer has access to everything in the candidate's Facebook account)

[Alameda]

1. Why would anyone actually give anyone access to that information?

One can configure Facebook "friends" in many different ways. Some are close friends, some only aquaintences who don't get everything. You can configure anything you post to only be seen by specific people. Even your friends list can be hidden. In some ways they have improved a great deal.

I imagine it would be because the person didn't know how to hide things.

[ohheckyeah]

2. Employers are

demanding passwords to Facebook accounts. It has nothing to do with the friends settings.

[Alameda]

5. Is that actually legal???? Geez, what next, they will want to study your chromosomes, demand a

DNA sample? This is outrageous!

[Posteritatis]

8. It's legal in the US

Technically, anyway. Facebook itself forbids it, and there's some discussion over whether some kinds of TOS violations actually fall under "illegal" rather than "not allowed by the site."

[ohheckyeah]

10. Unfortunately, it's pretty much

legal for employers to do whatever they damn well please. "Right to work", don't ya know?

I can just imagine if a prospective employee asked for my Facebook passwords. They really wouldn't like the answer.

[CreekDog]

3. This is about employers with Facebook passwords

with passwords they can access anything in the person's Facebook account, including information about their friends.

[dickthegrouch]

4. Remember an awful lot of people use the same password on many accounts

Including their bank accounts.

*IF* I were of nefarious bent, I'd give them my password and then empty out my bank account and claim they'd done it.

I see this as extremely risky for the organizations requesting passwords.

[Alameda]

6. Is that axtually legal? I would think it is a serious invasion of priavcy.

[etherealtruth]

7. I certainly hope they are at risk ....

There are folk that are desperate for jobs (its not easy to stick to your principles when you are trying to provide for a family) ... and would have little choice but to acquiesce to this request.

Would employers like PWs for my voicemail ... how about my DU PW?

This is just ridiculous ... I only use facebook to keep up with my kids, nieces, nephews .... and a few CLOSE friends, I post nothing personal.

From my facebook activity one can tell I love my kids and I am extremely liberal ... what business is this of any employer?

[Posteritatis]

9. I really want to see a list of employers who do this assembled. (nt)

[ohheckyeah]

11. Statement from Facebook's chief privacy officer

It sounded like a great Friday story, especially since nothing else was lighting up the ticker. A little after five in the morning, Pacific Time, Facebook issued a statement under the imprimatur of one Erin Egan, the company's chief privacy officer for policy.

Her post put employers on notice: Demand user profile and password information to gain access to peoples' Facebook profiles or private information and you just might wind up getting socked with a sweet lawsuit.

SOURCE


U.S. Senator wants law to ban the practice:

NEW YORK (AP / CBSNewYork) - The junior Senator from Connecticut is writing a bill that would stop the practice of employers asking job applicants for their Facebook or other social media passwords.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that such a practice is an “unreasonable invasion of privacy for people seeking work.”

“These practices seem to be spreading, which is why federal law ought to address them. They go beyond the borders of individual states and call for a national solution,” said Blumenthal, who first spoke to Politico on Wednesday.

“For an employer to ask to have a password or login information is like asking for the keys someone’s home so as to be able to rummage through drawers or files. There’s simply no justification for it,” Blumenthal told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau on Friday.

SOURCE