by Natalie Beck

The Bozeman City Commission called a special meeting last night to decide whether the city should hire a third party investigator to look into the hiring practices of the city’s human resources, police and fire departments after the city drew worldwide criticism for requiring job applicants to provide passwords to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook on their job applications.  Needless to say, the vote culminated in a unanimous yes.  Personally, I think a negative vote on this move would have resulted in more criticism for the city.

Since this story broke, we have been all over it like bees to honey.  And we will continue to follow it in anticipation of the outcome.  The use of social networking sites as a background screening tool is a very hot topic for hiring professionals and the result of this inquiry could ascertain its level of appropriateness, if any, in the decision making process.

Stay tuned…

Investigator to look into Bozeman “social media” policy

Montana’s News Station - June 30, 2009

by Nick Fishman

According to the ABA Journal, the city of Bozeman, Montana is asking job applicants to provide a list current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.  While we’ve written extensively about our objections to using such sites for employment background checks, we understand that it happens.  What we have never seen happen is another requirement of the city which asks candidates to list their user names and log-ins.

We are all for extensive employment background checks and stringent employment screening practices, but this seems a little over-reaching.  Do you think the city has gone so far over the line that they can’t even see it anymore?  I wonder what our favorite legal bloggers from Ohio and Delaware think about this policy.

Town Requires Job Seekers to Reveal Social Media Passwords

A human resources requirement by the city of Bozeman, Mont., that job applicants provide a host of personal information, including passwords to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, is creating a sensation online.

E-mail is fair game too considering officials also ask for passwords to Google and Yahoo accounts.

Montana’s News Station, a CBS affiliated site, reports that they were tipped to the application process from an anonymous individual who was concerned about Bozeman’s background check policies.

According to the station, job seekers for Bozeman city posts are required to sign a background check waiver. In addition to allowing standard criminal records checks and past employment reviews, the applicant is required to do the following:

“Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”

The city form then offers three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords, Montana News Station reports.

City Attorney Greg Sullivan is quoted as defending the policy: “We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city.”

In a follow up piece on the Bozeman HR requirements, the Montana News Station reports that, as a result of the story, Bozeman officials are receiving an e-mail a minute about the policy.

At the time the follow up story was reported, more than 5,000 votes had been tallied in an online poll (IMAGE) about the issue. A whopping 98 percent say the policy is an invasion of privacy.

The city is reviewing the policy. And they may be speeding the effort now that Facebook has become aware of the city’s HR policy.

The information technology publication, The Register, quotes Facebook as saying the Bozeman policy “is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which received feedback from users and was ultimately approved in a site-wide vote.”

Facebook further indicated it would be in touch with Bozeman officials.

by Jason Morris

An interesting twist on the social networking argument.  We have written and spoken extensively about the pitfalls of using social networking sites for background checks.  Well, this is how it is now affecting the legal world.  According to LegalBlogWatch, a Judge in a civil case accepted a “friend” request from one of the lawyers in the case.  This begs a lot of legal questions!

Facebook Friend Earns Judge a Reprimand

Opposing counsel are sitting with the judge in his chambers during a child-custody trial when the lawyer for the husband brings up Facebook. The other lawyer says she is a non-user, but the judge quickly agrees to “friend” the lawyer who is on Facebook. As the trial proceeds, the judge and the lawyer comment about it to each other through their Facebook pages, with the lawyer writing in one post, “I have a wise Judge.”

Hmmm. Wise in the ways of social networking, perhaps, but lacking something in the judicial-ethics department. When the hearing ended and the judge entered his order, the wife’s lawyer found out about their “friendship” and quickly moved for a new trial and for the judge’s disqualification. The judge promptly removed himself from the case and the wife got a new trial.

The socially networked North Carolina judge, B. Carlton Terry Jr., also earned himself a public reprimand from the state’s Judicial Standards Commission. The judge now agrees “that he will not repeat such conduct in the future” and “will promptly read and familiarize himself with the Code of Judicial Conduct.”

Part of the Facebook exchange between the judge and the lawyer involved the weight to be given testimony that one spouse had been unfaithful. During a meeting in chambers the day after the Judge Terry had friended lawyer Charles A. Schieck, Terry told the lawyers he believed the testimony but did not see that it made any difference in deciding custody. Schieck responded, “I will have to see if I can prove a negative.”

That evening, Schieck posted on his Facebook account, “How do I prove a negative?” Judge Terry saw it and responded that he had “two good parents to choose from,” to which Schieck posted his “wise judge” remark. The next day, the two shared additional messages on Facebook. In one, Schieck wrote, “I hope I’m in my last day of trial.” Judge Terry responded, “You are in your last day of trial.”
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by Natalie Beck

Have you ever played hooky from school and then inadvertently ran into one of your teachers later that same day?  Talk about an uncomfortable situation.  Same goes for your job - if you call off sick with a migraine stating that staring at a computer screen all day at work will make it worse, don’t get caught using Facebook at home.  One woman did and found herself out of the job.

I have to say, I sympathize with this woman.  If she truly was using her phone to access Facebook, that is markedly different that a 17 inch flatscreen monitor.  But it’s still a difficult argument to make.

Woman Fired For Using Facebook While Off Sick

City News Toronto - April 27, 2009

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have changed the way many people communicate and have had an unexpected impact on the workplace. Some companies have instituted policies blocking the popular web destinations, because workers spend too much time chatting with friends and not enough on their jobs.

And many prospective employers now troll the sites to find out what possible hires are leaving out of their resumes and what their attitudes are really like, leading some to lose a shot at increasingly limited openings.

Which brings us to another cautionary tale about Facebook, and an employee who lost her job because of it - even though she wasn’t using it at work.

Last November, a woman in Zurich, Switzerland called her employer, an insurance company, and told them she was too ill to come into work that day. Part of her duties involved using a computer, but she claimed her cure involved lying in the dark and that she was unable to face the lighted screen.

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by Natalie Beck

15 days and counting until the start of the 2009 NFL Draft.  And do you know what team franchise personnel are up to?  Checking Facebook and MySpace, of course!  You could say that the “unofficial” draft has started as some teams are already in the process of weeding out players they feel will not benefit their organization - off the field.

An invasion of privacy?  Not really.  We all know that once something is posted to the Internet, it’s really not private anymore.  A little underhanded?  In this case, I’d say yes.  NFL personnel are creating bogus profiles in order to gain access to potential prospects’ personal profiles.  A good idea?  (I think you know the answer to that one!)

What strikes me as funny is now that the NFL’s method of vetting draftees is out, potential picks are going to scrub their profiles clean and be very wary of who they befriend.  I give this method another two, three years tops before the NFL needs to find another “innovative” way to screen their prospects.

Social Networking a Potential Trap for Prospects

By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports - April 7, 2009

The woman in the Facebook picture is attractive, with auburn hair and icy blue eyes. She is flanked by several other women, each armed with an inviting smile and curvy features. Along with the photo is a hopeful note from the female “fan” asking to be added to a player’s personal networking profile. 

The twist? These women don’t actually exist, at least not in the way that some unsuspecting NFL prospects are led to believe. Indeed, they are a figment of one NFL team’s imagination – a phony Facebook profile, used as a tool by one franchise in the pre-draft vetting process. A Trojan horse that, when used effectively, unlocks a door to a world of Internet pictures and information which most NFL teams are now consistently compiling to help polish their dossiers on draft picks.

“It works like magic,” said a personnel source that was familiar with his team’s tactic of using counterfeit profiles to link to Facebook and Myspace pages of potential draft picks. The source directed Yahoo! Sports to one of the team’s “ghost profiles” – a term he coined because “once the draft is over, they disappear. It’s like they were never there.”

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by Nick Fishman

Will we be seeing you in Las Vegas at the SHRM Staffing Management Conference April 29-May 1, 2009?  employeescreenIQ will be exhibiting again this year and while our good looks might not draw you to the booth, we’re sure to have cool giveaways!  We might even have some helpful information and materials about background checks and employment screening.

We are also excited to announce that employeescreenIQ president and C.O.O., Jason B. Morris will be leading a educational session on the use of Social Networking Sites when conducting background checks on Wednesday April 29th at 7:00am.  (Don’t worry.  They’ll serve coffee.)

Please stop by and see us at booth #317 if you plan to be there.

by Natalie Beck

Many would argue that for every rule, there are exceptions.  We are willing to concede that this is one of those, if only for the safety and security of government agencies and the lives of their employees.  But as it stands, we still believe that the use of social networking sites to determine whether or not an individual should be hired is a big no-no for the majority of businesses.  Unless having an online profile represents a security issue (as is the case here), employers should refrain from using sites like Facebook and MySpace as a hiring tool.

Social networking websites make recruiting spies difficult

By Ken Munro, SC Magazine - February 3, 2009

A social networking world makes it harder for the intelligence services to recruit a spy without a profile.

Imagine the scene. James Bond enters the HQ of a criminal mastermind intent on world destruction. Waiting for him are a host of henchpersons, all armed to the teeth.

“We’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond,” says the evil Blofeld, stroking his white Persian cat. “We saw your Twitter update.”

The UK’s universities are a prime recruiting ground for our intelligence services. Clever, well-versed students apparently make excellent espionage agents.

Herein lies the problem: if you’re planning on having a second identity for undercover work, it doesn’t help if your photos, friends and real name are splattered all over various social networking sites. Try finding a student at a university who hasn’t done just that.

The UK’s intelligence agencies are worried. From schoolchildren on Bebo, through Facebook-obsessed young professionals, to well-networked CEOs on LinkedIn, having an online presence is a must in this day and age. But with the explosion of social networking sites, it has become virtually impossible to find recruits who don’t have some sort of an online trail.

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by Jason Morris

I have devoted today to preparing for my presentation in April at this years SHRM Staffing Management Conference.  In doing so I have come across a few interesting YouTube videos I found funny.  My presentation: “Social Networking Sites: Can You Always Trust What you See?” will dive head first into why employers are putting themselves at risk by using this as a background screening tool.

Enough with my shameless plug on why you should come to my presentation and on with the video’s:

by Jason Morris

by Nick Fishman

So CareerBuilder created a Do’s and Dont’s article for those looking for jobs as a follow up to their Social Networking study about background checks which was released last month.  Advice includes:

• Do Update Your Profile Regularly
• Don’t Badmouth Your Current or Past Employers
• Do Join Groups Selectively
• Don’t Mention Your Job Search if You are Still Employed
• Don’t Forget That Others Can See Your Friends

It’s pretty good advice, but they forgot the most important advice of all: Don’t Make Your Profile Public! I’m surprised by the omission.  If people that you don’t allow in can’t see your profile, then all of the above advice becomes a moot point.

Also on the topic of Social Networking and Background Checks was a great OpEd piece published in the Miami Herald by Mark Neuberger, labor and employment attorney for Foley & Lardner LLP.  Mark made provides an interesting analogy to to this practice by comparing it to pre-civil rights days.

“Before the Civil Rights Act, it was common for companies to require applicants to submit a photograph and routinely ask about religion, marital status and number of children. This information affected decisions regarding hiring, compensation and promotions. The widespread practice was that the ”family guy with kids” deserved the promotion and more money because he needed it and the single female did not.”

Read more

It’s an interesting take, but at the end of the day, the comparison is entirely valid.  Even if you are not factoring things such as race, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc. into your search, the old saying still holds true.  “You Can’t Unring That Bell”.