Civil Rights
Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
How many employers these days are using social media in hiring? And how many realize just how legally risky that can be?
A Carnegie Mellon study recently revealed that between one-tenth and one-third of U.S. firms search social media sites for information about applicants during the hiring process, Inside Counsel reports.
But the study also went a step further, revealing how employers can open themselves to liability by perusing applicants' social media profiles. Here's what researchers found:
Many Employers Not Deterred By Legal Risks
Researchers sent out more than 4,000 resumes, each with one of four made-up male names, to private firms of 15 or more employees across the country. Each of the names corresponded with a specially created Facebook profile tied to that name; those profiles made reference to a certain type of lifestyle that could be construed as Christian, Muslim, gay, or straight.
The result: The fake candidates whose Facebook profiles indicated a Muslim affiliation were far less likely to receive follow-up calls (just 2 percent did) than those who were identified as Christian (17 percent of whom were called back), Inside Counsel reports. Sexual orientation did not seem to make a difference.
The lesson here: It isn't the use of social media in the hiring process that's illegal, but rather the fact that these employers seemed to have based their hiring decision on information pulled from Facebook -- religion, in this case. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act generally bars an employer from making hiring decisions on the basis of race, national origin, gender, or religion. To do so would put the employer at risk of an employment discrimination lawsuit.
How to Keep Your Hiring Process Legal
So what can small business owners do to keep their hiring process within legal limits? Here are some tips:
Have more legal questions about using social media in hiring? You may want to ask an experienced employment attorney near you.
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