Should Employers Be Able To Access Applicants’ Facebook Accounts?

Workforce Management reports that employer requests for applicants’ online social media accounts is causing a stir. Erin Egan, chief privacy officer for Facebook Inc., said, “In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information. This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.”

Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that under current law, employers can expose themselves to EEOC charges, and potentially lawsuits, if they demand job applicants’ passwords. This could occur in cases, for instance, where the employer gets the password, signs onto the applicant’s Facebook account, learns the job applicant is a member of a protected class, and the applicant subsequently does not get the job, she said.

“It’s really not a big leap to think, ‘Now, gee, I didn’t get the job because they knew about my religion,’ or a related reason,” said Miaskoff. “With an employer’s access to Facebook, it’ll be easier than it sometimes is to otherwise challenge a hiring decision.”

According to the article, policies requiring job applicants to provide social media user names and passwords as part of their employee background check could lead to invasion of privacy allegations, which often are championed by individual rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.