Legal Risks of Using Facebook to Screen Job Applicants

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Like many employers, you may be mining social network sites (which, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll refer to collectively as “Facebook”) for personal information about individuals applying for jobs with your organization. While it enables you to unearth information that no resume or job interview would reveal, using Facebook to check up on job applicants feels, well, kinda dirty. But is it illegal?

Short answer: No, as long as you follow certain limits. Here are the limits and how to stay within them.

In a widely cited Microsoft-sponsored survey of employers, 70 percent of the respondents admitted to rejecting an applicant … Read the rest