About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

85 Temp. L. Rev. 229 (2012-2013)
Better Safe than Subjective: The Problematic Intersection of Prehire Social Networking Checks and Title VII Employment Discrimination

handle is hein.journals/temple85 and id is 241 raw text is: BETTER SAFE THAN SUBJECTIVE: THE PROBLEMATIC INTERSECTION OF PREHIRE SOCIAL NETWORKING CHECKS AND TITLE VII EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION* I. INTRODUCTION It takes less than a minute. An employer receives a resume and types the applicant's name into an Internet search engine. Assuming that applicant is among the two-thirds of the world's Internet population' visiting sites like Facebook,2 Myspace,3 Twitter,4 and LinkedIn,5 the employer is directed to the applicant's social networking profile. Instantly, the employer obviates Title VII mandates prohibiting employers from inquiring about an applicant's gender, race, national origin, and religion. The social networking profile provides the employer with various fields of personal information the applicant has opted to share, such as gender, age, religious affiliation, political preference, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, education, interests, and activities. The photo- and video-sharing capabilities of these sites may additionally provide the employer with insight as to the applicant's race, disability status, and lifestyle choices. This scenario is increasingly common-employers now routinely utilize social networking sites in order to research, reject, and decide to hire candidates.6 One survey * Megan Whitehill, J.D. candidate, Temple University Beasley School of Law, 2013. Many thanks to the staff and editorial board of the Temple Law Review for their hard work and diligence in improving this Comment. I would also like to thank Professor Brishen Rogers for providing me with valuable guidance throughout the writing process. A heartfelt thank you also to my family and friends for their love and support throughout law school. Finally, I would like to dedicate this piece to my grandfather, the late Peter J. Sweeney, whose example inspires me to always work my hardest and write my best. 1. Michael A. Curley & Debra Morway, Legal Issues Arising from the Use of Social Networks at Work, 1034 PLI/PAT 95, 98 (2011) (citing Global Faces and Networked Places, THE NIELSEN COMPANY, 1 (March 2009), http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfacesmar09.pdf). 2. FACEBOOK, http://www.facebook.com (last visited Oct. 28, 2012). Facebook is a social networking site that allows users to add friends and send them public and private messages; create and update a personal profile with information regarding education, employment, date of birth, religious affiliation, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, family status; join groups and indicate personal interests; post pictures and videos, chat on line with friends; post statuses. Id. 3. MYSPACE, http://myspace.com (last visited Oct. 28, 2012). Myspace allows users to create personal profiles, add friends, and update statuses. Id. 4. TWrITrER, http://twitter.com (last visited Oct. 28, 2012). Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows users to send short text messages (tweets) 140 characters in length, to friends (followers). Id. 5. LINKEDIN, http://linkedin.com (last visited Oct. 28, 2012). LinkedIn is a social networking website dedicated to work-related networking and allows users to post information related to education and work experience, and to connect to fellow users of the site, known as contacts. Id. 6. Curley & Morway, supra note 1, at 100-05. The arguments presented in this Conipnent apply to employers that access an applicant's publicly available social networking page as well as those employers that access social networking information protected by a user's privacy settings. This Comment focuses on the 229

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most