More and more employers are searching through candidates’ social media accounts as part of the recruitment process. This can be a useful tool to look for information that supports a candidate’s qualifications and experience, or to get an idea of their personality and their fit with the company culture. But are employers opening themselves up to risk by running online checks?
Yes, you could be
Article 29 Data Protection Working Party* has said that “in-employment screening of employees’ social media profiles should not take place on a generalised basis”. This is not legislation; however, it does affect how data protection authorities apply the law.
With so much information online, employers are bound to be curious about a candidate’s online presence. If you do decide to check them out online then you should be aware that any information used as a result, for example not being offered a position, can result in potential claims of discrimination, these can arise even before employment starts and the compensation for claims is uncapped.
Claims that you could face are discrimination on the grounds of age, sex or disability. Or a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998, which provides a right to respect for private and family life. Also, you could be in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, which states that employers should not hold excessive information and should process information fairly.
Another consideration is that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming in to force in May 2018, will give more protection to the individual on what information organisations can hold about them (see New data protection bill blog).
What should you do?
If you are going to use sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn it would be courteous to inform candidates that checking their online presence is part of your organisation’s recruitment process. You could also wait until you have met a candidate face-to-face before checking their social media profiles, as you are less likely to be accused of making a snap decision about them. If a role is particularly high profile or public facing then vetting a candidate’s online presence is more justified.
You should never ask for passwords or request access to social media accounts if an applicant has privacy settings so that you are unable to view them. As an employer, you shouldn’t assume that just because a candidate’s social media profile is public that you can process that data.
Most importantly in any situation where you decide not to offer or to withdraw an offer of employment, you should ensure that you have very clear reasons that are not solely related to someone’s social media presence.
* This Working Party was set up under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC. It is an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy.
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