Companies Should Avoid Social Networking Sites To Vet Job Applicants
Employers should avoid using social networking sites to vet job candidates as it could leave them vulnerable to discrimination claims.
Andrew Egan, an employment lawyer with Swindon/Newbury/Wantage law firm, Charles Lucas & Marshall says using sites such as Facebook, Twitter or My Space to find out more information on job applicants is potentially risky.
“It could easily to lead to discrimination claims,” he says. “We would advise employers not to obtain information this way – on either employees or job applicants.”
The Employment Practices Data Protection Code states that an employer should only use vetting where there are particular and significant risks involved to the employer, clients, customers or others, such as for jobs which involve working with vulnerable people or children.
“However, an employer should not place reliance on information collected from social networking sites because it could be potentially misleading,” added Andrew.
“Employers need to be careful because of mistaken identity, misleading and false information on such sites. If they were, for example, to find out information about a person’s sexual orientation, age or religious beliefs and it was felt this knowledge prompted an employer to discriminate against that person, then there could be grounds for a legal claim.
Dismissing employees for comments made about their employer on a social networking site can also be dangerous and lead to claims for unfair dismissal.
An employer could be asked to produce their IT records to prove that they did not discriminate based on an individual applicant’s personal profile.
If the advice is not to use these sites, then all line managers and recruiters should be informed and trained regarding equal opportunities. A general policy should be adopted, and a paper trail should be kept of assessments and information on prospective candidates.
For further advice or information on this subject, contact Andrew Egan on 01793 511055 or on
FREEFONE 0800 180 4835 or andrew.egan@clmlaw.co.uk
Last 5 posts by Andrew Egan
- Employment Newsletter February 2012 - January 18th, 2012
- New agency worker regulations – what should employers be doing? - July 6th, 2011
- Agency Workers Directive - Seminar 13th July 2011 - 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. - July 1st, 2011
- Don’t Let Restrictive Covenants Stifle Your Business Start-Up - March 10th, 2011
- New Retirement Age Could Spell Trouble for Employers - January 21st, 2011
