It's completely legal for employers to check public social media platforms
, but checking anything beyond public accounts is a gray area. … Since it's legal for employers to check public social media accounts, consider making personal accounts private.
When done improperly, a social media background check
can put your organization at risk for lawsuits
. … An employer researching a candidate on social media could easily learn that their candidate has one or more of these protected characteristics. This knowledge could cause a biased hiring decision.
The short answer is yes.
It is completely legal for employers to check employees' social media profiles
. Some states even allow employers to solicit social media usernames and passwords from their workers. In general, state and federal privacy laws dictate what employers can and cannot ask for.
What is a social media background check? A social media background check is similar to other types of background checks, like criminal checks. It
looks at a person's past behavior
since a person's past can be indicative of a person's future behavior.
Social media is used by potential employers to check
job applicants' qualifications
, assess their professionalism and trustworthiness, reveal negative attributes, determine whether they post any problematic content and even assess “fit.”
90% of Employers Consider
an Applicant's Social Media Activity During Hiring Process. If you want to hire top talents for your small business, you should look beyond the resumes of the potential candidates. According to a new survey, 90% of employers find social media important when they evaluate candidates.
Among the primary reasons employers hired a candidate based on their social networking site were:
candidate's background information supported their professional qualifications (38 percent)
, great communication skills (37 percent), a professional image (36 percent), and creativity (35 percent).
It Makes You More Negative
For many, social media is an outlet for all of their stresses, frustrations and heartbreaks, or a place to share their thoughts and feelings on the tragedies of the world. And while it may make them feel better, it certainly doesn't relieve those who are reading it.
When performing social media screening manually, hiring managers (or their internal HR counterparts) are
at risk of making biased decisions when
—not if— they come across protected class information such as race, class, gender expression, religion, etc.
Private companies and employers can discipline or fire an employee for what they post on social media. … In general,
employers cannot fire you for posting
: Truthful statements about working conditions, like harassment or unsafe working conditions. Comments that indicate your interest in joining or supporting a union.
Expressions of political beliefs.
Employers cannot force or influence employees to follow any particular course of political action by threatening employees of termination.
California employees cannot be fired for engaging in political activities
, including expressing their political views online.
Can employers check your Facebook even if it's private?
Many employers conduct professional background checks on potential employees before deciding whether to hire them. However, some employers may also investigate a potential employee's social media profiles, such as a Facebook page. In most cases,
an employer can only view your private Facebook page if you allow it
.
- Provocative Pics. Inappropriate pictures are something that an employer can look at in a few different ways. …
- Party like a Rockstar. …
- Bad Mouthing an Employer. …
- Unlawful Activity. …
- Violent Activity/Remarks. …
- Two Faced Tony. …
- Being Absent.
Is social media screening legal? The short answer:
Yes
, BUT it has to be done correctly. If you're tasked with making hiring decisions and you decide to look at an applicant's social media activity on your own, you're opening yourself up to potential problems (such as discrimination lawsuits).
Social media is a great platform for employees and job seekers to post about their accomplishments, portfolios and volunteering activities. However,
a slip-up can cost you your career or ruin your chances of
getting a job. … being used to fire people based on their ill-advised social media behavior.”
According to a survey by CareerBuilder, a full 70 percent of employers
“use social media to screen candidates before hiring
.” Even more striking is the follow-on statistic: 54 percent of employers surveyed said they chose not to hire a candidate based on content found on their social media profile(s).
