Cause and Consequence
It’s important to remember that there are implications for gathering this type of personal information, whether or not the information is publicly available online or is available online with limited access to “friends” or other allowed individuals.
What if you find out that a candidate is pregnant on a Facebook status update? Does that raise the risk of a human rights complaint being filed even if the decision not to hire was based on lack of training? What if you make a decision based on completely inaccurate information? What if you did not obtain the consent of the potential employee for such a search and a complaint is made to the Privacy Commissioner?
Think of the consequences of your actions and the risks you are creating for your business.
Minimizing the Risks
To minimize the risk of improper use and the resulting penalties for this use, it is important to have in place clear policies of when a personal search would be necessary and how those searches will be conducted. The policy should specify what information you intend to look for, including the steps you would take to confirm the accuracy of the information, how you will produce the information if required, and when you will destroy the information that was collected.
Find Out More
In October 2011, the Information & Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia released a publication to help you understand your responsibilities when using social media. It will also help you understand how to develop a privacy policy and answers Frequently Asked Questions of what is, and is not, allowed when hiring a new employee.
The publication, entitled “Guidelines for Social Media Background Checks” can be found at www.oipc.bc.ca under “Resources for Businesses and Organizations”
