Sunday, October 23, 2011


  1. Do have someone other than the ultimate decision-maker conduct the background check, says Eric B. Myers, a partner in the Labor and Employment Group at Dilworth Paxson, LLP, and the author of The Employer Handbook Blog. He points out that if someone other than the hiring manager does the background check, the company may be able to insulate itself against claims of discrimination. Myers also suggests that if, for instance, a Facebook photo shows the applicant smoking marijuana, the background checker could mark “no” on a non-specific checklist that asks, “uses good judgment,” as doing so is less specific than jotting down “the applicant smokes dope,” which may in fact not even turn out to be true.
  2. Do let applicants know that you’re going to be checking their social-media profiles — and it doesn’t hurt to mention it in your advertisement for the job opening.
  3. Do inform applicants if a third party will be conducting the background check. The Fair Credit Report Act requires applicants to signoff, regardless of whether a password or username is needed to access your profile, if a third party conducts the check. Fail to disclose to the applicant that someone other than an employee at your own firm is conducting the background check, and you open yourself up to a lawsuit, Myers points out.
  4. Don’t compel a job applicant to break a website’s terms or conditions of use. Many social-media utilities and websites prohibit their users from sharing login information with third parties. Do this and you and the applicant could face a lawsuit from Facebook and be found by federal authorities to be in violation of the Stored Communications Act.
  5. Don’t rely on your company’s social-media policy when it comes to job applicants because applicants aren’t covered by the same policies as employees.
  6. Don’t forget to check with your company’s legal counsel before instituting a new hiring practice connected to social media. This remains a very fluid area with new rules and interpretations occurring at a rapid pace.
Source: www.entrepreneur.com

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