Is it ethical or legal for employers to look at your facebook or myspace?

Well what are privacy settings for?

 

To encourage Facebook users to increase use of the service, causing advertising revenue to rise.

 

Interesting. WHat a sham.

 

What do you expect? Just having a Facebook account is a pretty good indicator of a person being an everyday sucker.

 

I hear employers are downloading pics of of fb accounts. Isn't that illegal without permission.

 

Not with privacy settings.

 

Exactly!! Employers are doing way to much snooping.

 

looks like all those companies are liable and they are told by fb to stop asking for passwords.

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...9bS1Bg&usg=AFQjCNFe8l7GADrW5HOM7aXJ-c3aP4NMkg

 

Simply put. it is open information for anyone to gather. On the otherhand, you can make your account private from public viewing and restrict it. You should never be asked for your password. Your password might in fact be the same as your bank account, and if not you can argue that point to a potential employer asking for it without walking out on the interview

 

I assume you're referring to this post by Macaroniman:
"Lets face it the business climate for employees in this country is as bad as it has been since T eddy Roosevelt enacted laws for their protections. Employers can fire at will, block unions, snoop in any way they desire, work employees off the books (overtime)) in fear they may lose their jobs if they don't. they want the legalization of tens of millions of illegals to drive labor costs into the ground, push for Guest workers to keep down labor, offshore millions of jobs, demand drug tests...and you worry about facebook snooping.. Our gutless elected have handed employee rights on a serving tray for employers to carve up. You have no rights other than find an employer that does not do this."

Are things as bad as they've ever been since Teddy Roosevelt enacted laws for their protection? Not even close. I grew up with the Unions crippling opponents, killing people, and stealing pension funds. Obviously, I think it's been worse than it is now.

Employers can fire at will? I suppose Macaroniman, and you, have never heard of contracts.

Block unions? No, that's illegal. Can unions legally prevent a person from working if they don't join the union. Yes, they can but the company can do nothing legally if you do join a union.

Snoop in any way they want? That's another lie. It's so broad I won't comment but no, employers can't snoop in any way they want.

Force workers to work off the books? Now, that's illegal big time because they wouldn't be paying taxes, either.

I'm going to skip the rest of the xenophobic and psychotic nonsense.

As to your question, "You don't think these things are happening?" They aren't legal, they are not common business practice, and employees have plenty of recourse.

I read about an employee raping a supervisor but I don't go on-line complaining that employees rape supervicors. Do you deny that employees assault, sexual and otherwise, supervisors? Of course, it happens. Is it common practice? No. It's it something advocated by unions? Only occasionally.

 

And if it's .01%? There will always be people doing something wrong and illegal.

Should prospective employers be prohibited from looking at a Facebook page? I don't think show. Should prospective employees be probhibited from seeing a criminal history? I don't think so. Should an employeer be prevented from interviewing past employeers and co-workers? No. Should an employeer be prohibited from accessing history of workmen's comp claims or lawsuits involving employers? No.

It's interesting but people who champion the hiring, or electing, without information also support suing the employer for the employees misconduct on the job.

 

If you put up stuff to be consumed by the public, don't be surprised when it's used against you. I think it's perfectly fine for an employer to look at someone's social media page to determine if they're breaking company policies or lying to supervisors and coworkers. I also have no problem with them looking at their page to determine whether or not to hire someone. If someone is dumb enough to put up a photo of themselves wasted on the floor of a bar, I don't think I can trust them to make good business decisions for me. They might still be fine for a grunt position, but bad for a financial or marketing job.

At my old job in the games industry, we'd use social media and even employees' game network statuses to find out if they were lying to get out of work. I once had a guy tell me he was sick and needed to go to a doctor. Over the next few hours, his character in World of Warcraft managed to gain several levels and post a few achievements. He got a bunch more time to play WoW after we called to let him know he didn't have a job any more. We'd have people call in sick to work on big launch days and then rack up achievements in the new game. Then those same people would wonder why they were getting passed up for promotions.

 

I agree. I can tell you right the worst employees I manage are the ones who have a Facebook account. They can't concentrate at work because they constantly have to know if their buddy used two-ply or three-ply toilet paper for their last (*)(*)(*)(*). I will check out my next hire's Facebook and other public information because I can't afford to have nimrods working for me who can't concentrate at work.

 

You can't argue against censorship of the internet one day...and then advocate censorship the next. That's not rational thinking.

 

sure if you are dumb enough to give them permission to do it!!!!

 

Apparently, in a lot of cases its going beyond veiwing public profiles. There was a local story in the news here about employers asking employees to make their private profiles public, and in some cases requesting passwords. Either of those two scenarios are wrong in my opinion.

On the other hand, if your stupid enough to make your profile public, and then post pictures or statuses about illegal activity, its your own fault, although I do find something unethical about an employer snooping into an employees personal life.

My profile is private, and if an interviewer told me i have to make it public, I'd walk out without another word. If they told me I need to give them my password, I'd probably get into an argument with them before i walked out.

In the end, its probably a policy that's going to hurt employers.

 

Employers are going to lose credibility. Probably the ones who have been doing it also are going to be discredited for using this practice for years.

 

if it public, you invited them to look, if it's private, they can't look

 

Exactly. I don't understand why employers weren't aware of this anyway.

 

Some people feel bullied and exploited. So they gave it up. Now they know they can sue and fight back. Compsnies really should have thought better on this years ago. But they have no foresight.

 

I don't have a facebook.

/problemsolved

 

As far as I know, it is legal.

Whether or not it's ethical is a matter of opinion.

If nothing else, using facebook profiles to select job candidates is an indication of just how flooded the labor market is.

 

fb is actually the first to take a stand. But this goes for all social networks. They all will soon follow or lose users which + losing sponsors and $$.

 

The Senate is in the process of making it a bill and then law. Before the summer is over it will be passed. So it is illegal and unethical. That's the point of me sharing the info in this thread.