Is it ethical or legal for employers to look at your facebook or myspace?

Really? Is that yet another "right" that you're drawing from thin air? Like the "right" to free cell phones and cell phone service? The Left is fond of making up rights as they go along, not even putting up the charade of trying to find them in the Constitution anymore.

 

some businesses are run by ignorant people these days, these are the ones that hire real drunkards to fly planes because there are no pictures of them on the internet...

people are going to be people, if they have done nothing illegal it shouldn't be a problem for employment

 

Exactly. We all know cases where the business owner or general manager has been arrested for dui or possession of weed. When they judge and don't hire people based on personal life then they really open themselves up for lawsuits. How are you justifying seperating these people when the person who sets the culture acts a fool and wouldn't be hired if they were an applicant? Any HR professional will tell you that.

 

So because a few corporate officers make a mistake, the rest cannot exercise discernment in who they hire? What kind of liberal gobbily-gook is that?

 

Employers don't have the burden of being forced to hire people simply because they haven't done anything 'illegal.' They can refuse you to hire you because you have bad breath. Or wear something unsuitable to an interview. Or because they don't like your looks.

It's what makes us a free country.

 

But the Left really does want to change that, don't they? The Left is fond of making up rights, and one of the latest is the "right" to a job...and who are these prudent employers for denying them their civil rights?

 

Ok, so you put your business out there to be seen by everyone on the Internet, but then get pissed when your boss looks.

Ya, that makes no sense at all.

 

Know why that is? Because there are so few liberals who are in a position to hire anybody. They only see things from the side of the worker... it's impossible for them to relate to money coming outta their pocket to pay the salaries of employees. You can bet if it was them doing the hiring, they'd never be as compassionate as they expect the business world to be.

 

employers don't have impunity in hiring practices under this administration because the equal opportunity commision is getting more taxpayer funding..

therefore they must tread lightly on barring employment based on looks

 

Well you got this one right.... so they may as well end this topic.

 

No... they don't. Equal opportunity covers race, gender and religion... but it doesn't have special provisions for looks. Of course, there'll always the occasional flat-chested woman who sues Hooter's because they didn't hire her. Fortunately, courts are still reluctant to force a private employer to put somebody on the payroll. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that situation would be for both employer and employee?

 

it seems wrong in this instance due to the circumstances..

for example when women work as strippers on the weekend to help pay the bills they should not be judged by a corporation or small business who may hire them for their private life..

facebook escapades belong to their private life and should not be used against them...

 

Then these escapades, as you put it, should not be thrown upon the public sphere for anyone to peruse.

 

I think some employers can't help themselves; they are tyrants in the making.

That being said, I'd recommend to ANYONE... treat things like Facebook as a fully-public forum; EVERYONE can see virtually everything you put up there.

Facebook isn't private.

This kind of forum is more private, but knowing what I do about I.T. and law enforcement, I know it is possible that anything said here, could be attributed to me.

If that were to happen, I'm sure that the things I say might cause me to lose a few acquaintances (I express a lot more of my anger here)... but not lose my job. And that is because I consider even this to be a public forum.

I have always taken the extra risk of revealing my sexual-orientation here; that's far less of a concern now because DADT is repealed (absolutely DONE in the next few days) .

But on Facebook, that stuff is all connected and absolutely PUBLIC... people should know that and behave accordingly.

Facebook is like walking/talking on a sidewalk or inside of a grocery store... it's PUBLIC. Anyone's BOSS can see/hear anything they do.

 

Exactly. There can be no expectation of privacy when you post something on the internet... especially under your own name on Facebook or Myspace.

 

This argument has held sway on this thread. The thread has outlived its usefulness. Logic has won.

 

Agreed!!!!

 

Is it ethical to review one's potential employers on facebook or other websites in order to determine if one really wants to work for him or her?

 

Saying it should be illegal for someone to look at your facebook page is like putting up a huge billboard on the higway and claiming it should be illegal to look at it. Facebook and myspace, and all other sites like them are public sites, anyone who puts one up needs to understand that they should not post something that they don't want people seeing. If they do, then it's their own fault...(*)(*)(*)(*) them.

 

If your information is open to the public, it is legal and ethical for them to look at it. If you have your FB account locked down, it is not.

 

The only indication you have of a person's future judgements and actions are their past ones. Is it a perfect discriminator? No, but 9 times out of 10 extremely stupid actions are not a one time thing.......

 

It's legal. Is it ethical? I guess.

I think judging an employee based on their Facebook page is rather petty, but it's also a testament to how crowded the labor market is right now.

If it's gotten to the point that HR personnel are wasting time looking at Facebook pages to trim down candidates, that's basically a sign that a lot of people applying for the same job have the same level of skill and experience.

It's really just a sad indication for the state of the economy.

 

If that is what you believe then why did you vote 'Yes' in Serfin' USA's poll that asked the question, "Should someone be fired from their job for an opinion expressed outside of work?"
http://www.politicalforum.com/opinion-polls/poll-4556-should-someone-fired-their-job-opinion-expressed-outside-work.html

Could it be *gasp* that you only think they should be fired when YOU disagree with said opinion?

 

If you put it out there, it is for all to see

 

Very interesting. So this person isn't even credible as it comes to this topic either way. Thanks for the heads up. Seems like most posters feel this is an unfair practice by employers.