Sns Recruiting - Legal and Compliance Issues
1. Introduction
The use of social media in the hiring process has important legal ramifications that employers need to be aware of. While the content and postings by job applicants on social network sites is in the public domain, considerable legal problems exist for employers over the use of the obtained information if it infringes upon legally protected areas of privacy. This section discusses compliance issues primarily in the United States and also in Japan.
Recently, there has been a lot of publicity over some employers requesting Facebook password and login information from job applicants. While this practice caught the media’s attention, the reality is employers have been using social media to investigate job applicants for years.
According to a survey conducted in 2011 by Reppler, a social media monitoring service in the US, 91% of the recruiters and hiring managers stated they have used social networking sites to screen prospective employees. And, 69% of these recruiters and hiring managers revealed that they have denied employment to job applicants due to something they found on an applicant’s social networking site.
Employers therefore need to be very cautious when using information that is obtained from social media when making hiring decisions. In litigation happy US, this can be a veritable minefield. Though the technology has outpaced the law, employers should be sure that the information they receive does not lead them to liability under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), or under various state and federal employment discrimination laws. 2. Pre-employment Background Check
What is FCRA? FCRA governs pre-screening obtained from outside agencies. This law sets out various requirements and rules for pre-employment background reports, called Consumer Reports. Under the FCRA, employers must provide to job applicants (and employees) a disclosure that consumers report/background check will be performed and the employer should obtain the
The use of social media in the hiring process has important legal ramifications that employers need to be aware of. While the content and postings by job applicants on social network sites is in the public domain, considerable legal problems exist for employers over the use of the obtained information if it infringes upon legally protected areas of privacy. This section discusses compliance issues primarily in the United States and also in Japan.
Recently, there has been a lot of publicity over some employers requesting Facebook password and login information from job applicants. While this practice caught the media’s attention, the reality is employers have been using social media to investigate job applicants for years.
According to a survey conducted in 2011 by Reppler, a social media monitoring service in the US, 91% of the recruiters and hiring managers stated they have used social networking sites to screen prospective employees. And, 69% of these recruiters and hiring managers revealed that they have denied employment to job applicants due to something they found on an applicant’s social networking site.
Employers therefore need to be very cautious when using information that is obtained from social media when making hiring decisions. In litigation happy US, this can be a veritable minefield. Though the technology has outpaced the law, employers should be sure that the information they receive does not lead them to liability under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), or under various state and federal employment discrimination laws. 2. Pre-employment Background Check
What is FCRA? FCRA governs pre-screening obtained from outside agencies. This law sets out various requirements and rules for pre-employment background reports, called Consumer Reports. Under the FCRA, employers must provide to job applicants (and employees) a disclosure that consumers report/background check will be performed and the employer should obtain the