When recruiting a new employee, there may be a temptation to research the applicants by investigating information that may be available about them on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. In fact, in 2012, ACAS carried out a research paper which suggested that over a quarter of employers use social media websites to vet job applicants. But is it a good idea?

The recent recruitment of Paris Brown to the position of Youth Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent highlighted what can go wrong when social media websites are not used to vet a job applicant. Paris Brown, who was recruited to the role when she was 17, had made a number of comments on Twitter when she was aged between 14 and 16, which could be considered to be homophobic and racist. Given the nature of the role that she was appointed to and the publicity that surrounded her appointment to that role, this discovery called into question her suitability for that role and she was compelled to resign.

The comments she posted on Twitter were in the public domain and easy for the press to find. In general, information held on social media websites is in the public domain and easily accessible. It is therefore possible to an employer to access a lot of information about job applicants, which may indicate whether they have a tendency to party on a week night or bad mouth people.

However, there is the potential for to obtain information about the job applicant’s age, race, sexual orientation, religion or beliefs, and medical information such as whether they are pregnant, take a lot of time off sick or have a disability. You are advised to be very cautious about bringing the use of social media into your recruitment process as if you acquire this type of information about the job applicant there is the risk that he or she claims that this information influenced your decision not to offer them the job.

Another issue to consider is that the recruitment process involves processing personal data about job applicants and is therefore covered by the Data Protection Act. The Information Commissioners Office suggests that: (1) information should be obtained to confirm specific points rather than for general information gathering purposes; (2) information should only be gathered from sources where it is likely that relevant information necessary to confirm those specific points will be revealed; and, (3) employers must avoid placing reliance on potentially unreliable sources. It may therefore be difficult to justify the use of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter in a recruitment process unless the nature of the role or public profile of the employee specifically requires it.

If you do wish to use social media websites in your recruitment process, it is advisable that you have clearly defined objectives for doing so to set out the specific points you are trying to confirm and that the job applicant is afforded the opportunity to comment on the accuracy of that information obtained. It is of course always advisable that you have clear equal opportunities/anti-discrimination policies and that these cover your recruitment processes.

For more information on this subject or any other queries about employment law, please contact Kate Booth on 01484 821309 or at katebooth@eatonsmith.co.uk
Posted Friday 30th of August 2013