Feds Mull Risk of Discrimination Charges from Social Media Use
It’s not a situation that is common right now, but with the increased use of social media use and companies making use of social media channels for recruitment, it is not a situation that is will be uncommon in the near future. Employers currently often use Facebook, twitter and other social media for recruiting, and therefore, the federal administration has a pertinent question – will these companies be at risk of discrimination lawsuits, because those recruitment strategies leave out older people who may not be using social media?
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission focused on such questions at a recent hearing on how the use of social media by companies, job applicants and employers can affect enforcement of discrimination laws. Any job seeker now knows that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media networks are just as important a source of job opportunities these days as conventional recruitment channels. In fact, more opportunities are posted on these channels, as more and more companies use social networks to hire prospective employees.
However, older persons may not be as inclined to use computers, and even less inclined to use more professional networks like LinkedIn, although older people are likely to use social media like Facebook. Therefore, there could be issues about whether companies could be found guilty of discriminating against older employees by using such recruitment channels.
Last year, one study found that as many as 77% of companies frequently used social networking sites to find candidates for specific jobs. That was an increase from 56% in 2011, and a rate of 34% in 2008. The highest recruitment action took place on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
There are also questions about the risk of lawsuits, arising when employers choose to use social media to screen applicants.
