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Employers may not be able to conduct Facebook checks on prospective employees

Author: Christina Catenacci

Posted on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 09:30

I just read an interesting article saying that Germany may be the first to pass a law making it illegal for employers to spy on job applicants’ private postings on Facebook.

The proposed law aims to address privacy concerns about certain online services, such as social networks and Google Street View. Apparently, there has been public outrage in Germany over corporations checking on private employee emails and filming sales clerks during coffee breaks.

At this point, the regulations have not yet been passed, and some are finding it difficult to imagine them being in force. It would also be challenging to prove a violation and enforce the law to win damages.

For instance, employers would still be able to conduct Internet searches on a job applicant, and could view business-related posts on websites such as LinkedIn, but could not go into Facebook and become a “friend” of the applicant, learning even more private details about the person.

The proposed law would also prohibit video surveillance in private areas such as washrooms, under threat of a 300,000 Euro fine. On the other hand, this type of surveillance would still be allowed in public areas.

Some view the proposed bill as a healthy balance between employee rights to privacy and employer rights to know valuable information about employees.

What do you think?

Do you think this type of law could ever be passed in Canada?

Christina Catenacci
First Reference Human Resources and Compliance Editor

Tags: background checks, balance between employee rights to privacy and employer rights to know, Employee privacy rights, Employment background checks, employment law, facebook, Facebook checks on prospective employees, Germany, Monitoring, privacy, Privacy in the workplace, selection process, social media, social media activities at work, social networks, spy on employees, surveillance

This entry was posted on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 09:30 and is filed under Human Resources, Privacy and Security, Recruiting and Hiring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.