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

Yes I have. Look on the thread. It's fairly recent.

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Please read posts on the thread with links. This would help you be psrt of the discussion.

 

Sorry man. You've had multiple requests today to post your quotes and links. We don't have time to sift through the entire thread to prove our point. I'm sure there is someone somewhere who has used facebook inappropriately in hiring and firing someone but there are plenty of perfectly legal and ethical ways an employer can use facebook to hire and fire people. Anyway with so many people not getting hired I am not sure how everybody is going to know they weren't hired because of a facebook picture/post. It's your life. If you want to risk it go ahead. Personally I am not going to derail my career and clog up the already over burdened legal system with frivolous easily avoidable law suites.

 

It is both ethical and legal.

For example, I'm an employer and if a job applicant was bragging on the internet that they stole a bunch of equipment from a previous employer I would toss their application in the trash.

It's no different than the guy who, at his job interview, started bragging to me about stealing from a former employer who, although is my competitor, happens to be a good friend of mine.

 

Wrong. Totally different to tell you face to face than you prying on his personal social media page. I'm glad I started this thread. When the lawsuits pile up even more then just know I tried to give a heads up.

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Well you're just being lazy. Because I posted a link yesterday. And your entire post is wrong with the info you're sharing. Way to be.

 

In the first .pdf from the link that you just posted there were several cases where employees were discharged for trash talking their employers and the NLRB said that the firings were legitimate. I'm not sure what you're basing your view on.

 

"The previous page is sending you to an invalid url."

 

From what I gather from I justsayin's link is that an employee can't be fired for engaging in group concerted activities but CAN most definitely be fired for shooting their mouth off on their own. Also, the link doesn't speak to the issue of whether it is legal for an employer to require social media account info as a condition of employment for new hires. I don't know whether it is legal or not but the assertion that it is illegal still has not been established. If I'm mistaken then can someone please quote the relevant information instead of just dropping bare links to wade through.

 

It is illegal to require social media account info. EMployers hate it but it's how it is. I provided that link months ago. This particular one doesn't state that. Sorry.

 

No, you didn't provide that months ago. Again, if I'm mistaken link me to the post where you did that and quote the relevant words. Thanks.

 

Is this the link you're referring to? http://www.geekosystem.com/facebook-password-employers/

If so, that doesn't speak to legality. That is just Facebook urging their members to not do it. It doesn't even mention any specific law.

 

No, you posted a law meant to protect people from being punished for posting things that people disagree with, such as a chick fil a worker posting something pro gay, and being fired over it. It does not however protect you from defamation laws. You can not post something about someone that is not true meant to defame their character and be protected by that law. That would allow someone to post all over the internet that you rape children and be completely free from any consequences for doing so.

 

If I were an employer looking to hire someone to make me a lot of money, I would stalk them including their facebook's.

The people who were naked or drinking at parties wouldn't get hired, the people who voiced opposition to work and voted democrat's wouldn't get hired.

No one would know my intention for not hiring them either, their information is public. The only way they can bring a legitimate discrimination suit is if they recorded me in an interview saying I'm not hiring you because you drink and voted for Obama. But no Business man is that stupid, or they wouldn't be making so much money off you guys.

 

Personally, I would not care what people did in their private lives as long as it did not effect their work.

 

It isn't illegal to click on a social media link ... The law really only protects free speech.
It is only illegal to fire an employee who puts a negative comment about the company they work for ... And that is not a new law, but one enacted during the Industrial Era to protect Unions and Union Members.

The law has very little to do with social media snooping ... And is only loosely associated to situation where someone gets fired for saying something bad about the company they work for.
If you post pictures of yourself doing stupid things ... If you post proprietary information about the company ... You will still not get hired or you can be fired.

Race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, age ... Are all protected by law in hiring or firing ... But being stupid on the internet isn't.

 

Dude facebook is an open forum anything you post there is available for any member of the public including once and future bosses to read. So as long as you are working for a living it's probably a really bad idea to post crap there that current and or future bosses might take a dim view of.

 

People don't understand the internet. Let the lawsuits build up.

 

If you put it out there, you aught to expect anyone can see it. If an employer is going to invest a lot of time and money in you, I would expect him wanting to know what kind of person you really are.

 

Nope, if I want to put my personal information on a billboard on the side of the highway, I should be able to sue people for looking at it...

/sarcasm