
Germany to outlaw employers checking out candidates on Facebook, Googling is OK - mrspin
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/08/23/germany-to-outlaw-employers-checking-out-job-candidates-on-facebook-but-googling-is-ok/#comments
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gaius
I'm guessing that none of the people commenting on the original article have
ever hired anyone. There's plenty of precedent for this. There are things you
aren't allowed to take into consideration when hiring (e.g. sexual
orientation, religion, etc) and so as an interviewer, I simply don't ask
anything that could result in me knowing. Even social break-the-ice questions
like "what did you do at the weekend?" are off limits at interview stage. The
reason is to protect myself and the company; if we don't hire a candidate
because they lack skills, they can't turn around and sue us on spurious
grounds.

So no serious interviewer is looking at FB anyway - it opens up too many
potential issues.

~~~
javanix
That wouldn't disallow them from screening in the pre-interview stage though,
would it? If the company sees something on Facebook that they don't like, it'd
be virtually impossible to prove what effect it had on their decision to not
interview someone.

~~~
gaius
That's true, but if it becomes a habit it would show up eventually, e.g. if
the company never hired anyone of "type x".

It's very easy to not-hire someone anyway; you can say "not a cultural fit"
which means they wouldn't get on with the team. But it would be suspicious if
that correlated well with a readily observable characteristic.

~~~
jat850
But any readily observable characteristic would either manifest as something
illegal to discriminate on (sexual orientation, weight, sex, appearance, etc.)
or as something not illegal to discriminate on in the first place.

Illegal discriminatory hiring practices are very specific, so suspicious or
not, it doesn't matter. There's no legal grounds for someone to sue a company
because they used Facebook to determine that they don't like "Fight Club" or
that they eat a lot of Burger King and were thusly not hired.

~~~
gaius
On FB you could easily see someone's sexual orientation, for example, or the
year they graduated. It's better not to look. If you hire them and you get on
outside work, then by all means add them as friends and you can see all you
want.

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Ras_
In Finland (legislation and society modeled from Germany), you are not allowed
to acquire personal information from third parties, like internet in general,
without applicant's consent.

Only the information provided by the candidate and his/her criminal and credit
records (if applicable - mostly not) can be searched without explicit
permission.

Proving foul play is of course nearly impossible.

Examples:

* Internet search results as a basis of decision on recruiting is illegal if there is no permission from the candidate

* Facebook profile picture is "unnecessary personal information in relation to employment" no matter what the job might be

* You are not allowed to use unnecessary personal information like the Facebook profile picture even if the candidate gives a permission

This legislation is based on a belief that an employee should know what kind
of personal information about him/her is being gathered. Employer is required
to notify employee/candidate about the intent on acquiring personal
information from external source. Second notification is needed before using
the sourced data as a basis of decision making on the candidate.

Personal Data Act (523/1999): <http://www.tietosuoja.fi/uploads/hopxtvf.HTM>

The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman:
<http://www.tietosuoja.fi/27305.htm>

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roboneal
Seriously, how is this remotely workable?

On what legal principle do you ban the use of a single website for employment
screening, yet essentially allow everything else.

~~~
notahacker
lots of other things are banned from being used for screening in many
jurisdictions - age, gender, race, nationality, religious and political views
and affiliations, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, parenthood,
veteran status, medical history, benefit-claimant, expired criminal
convictions etc.

Funnily enough you'll find most of the above on Facebook. Of course in
practice all such laws are largely unenforceable, and rely on recruiters being
law-abiding citizens

~~~
Tichy
I would guess that this kind of laws mainly does one thing: create the job of
the agent. I wouldn't be surprised if agents are not bound by these laws?
After all, they are not hiring. They only suggest people to hire to other
companies.

Also, while I sympathize with the goals, I sympathize with the plight of the
small business owner more. Yet another law == yet another rabbit hole to
stumble into. In effect, more costs for hiring lawyers.

