Senator promises to block invasive employer social media checks

DigitalTrends. Blumenthal announced this week that he plans to submit a bill that would make it illegal for employers to require job applicants to turn over the social network login credentials. Employers requesting that job applicants provide access to their personal social media profiles has become quite a common occurrence. Performing a social media background check is one thing, but requesting access to the applicant’s personal information within their profile is a very different story, according to critics. “I am very deeply troubled by the practices that seem to be spreading voraciously around the country,” Blumenthal told Politco. He added that employers already have “a lot of ways to find out information” about job candidates. Blumenthal says that his bill will include some exceptions, like for federal and local law enforcement agencies, and government agencies that handle national security issues. He also indicated that private companies that receive government contracts would be regulated under the legislation. Where to draw the line? Companies have long used applicants’ social media presence as part of their vetting process, but most have limited to what can be found through publicly available posts, which does not include most Facebook activity, which is usually private. As Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan noted today, this practice does not just violate the “privacy expectations and security” of the job applicant, but also that of everyone with whom the applicant is friends on the social network. “We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do,” writes Egan. ”But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating.  For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don’t hire that person.” Egan adds that Facebook will “take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.” Sen. Blumenthal says that the legislation, while still a work-in-progress, will be submitted to Congress “soon.” Do you think employers should be provided access to job candidates social media profiles?]]>