Can My Employer Check My Social Media Profile During Background Check?

Background checks reveal all sorts of information. That’s why many people always conduct them. When it comes to employment, an employer must conduct comprehensive background checks on applicants or employees. However, when doing this, they must ensure to respect employee’s rights during the process.

One main question is whether an employer can check a job applicant or an employees’ social medial profile. The answer is a resonant yes. Your employer can check on your internet platform when hiring. But this should be done only for the purposes of investigation.

Is It Legal For My Employer To Check My Social Media Profile?

You might rethink while you want to post a picture about how you behaved in a recent nightclub.  Employee posts on social, medical accounts can be a significant drawback when seeking a job. The chances are that your prospective employer may go checking at your Facebook page even before they send you an offer. But this is only allowed if:

• The information is being used for purposes of investigating the job applicant or an employee. For instance, a job applicant who posts photos while drunk may not be a good driver.
• It’s reasonable vital when investigating employee misconduct. For instance, an employer may not like their job; thus, they may post company trade secrets to ensure the company fails or may even spread hate of other employees on social media.

In most states, employers are not allowed to ask for usernames and passwords. Again, an employer cannot force you to pull up your social media accounts in an interview or even force you to talk about the content in those accounts. That way, he/she may be violating your privacy rights.

Suppose you’re applying for a job and your prospective employer decided to take adverse action because you failed to give your social media account information. In that case, you can look for an employment lawyer to evaluate whether you may have a claim. Some of the information that may be used against you to deny you a job could be:

• Offensive posts
• Photos of you being drunk
• Having a controlled weapon
• Any other nasty information such as phonography that may reflect you as an indigent applicant

Many job applicants lose their jobs after their prospective employers find the above references in their social media accounts.

What Does The Law State On Social Media Accounts Passwords?

Many employers want to see applicant information on social media. Thus they request for user names and passwords during the interview process. This is illegal in California. If your employer was conducting an  employment background check in California and decided to ask for your username and password, and when you refused, he/she took adverse employment action against you, you may be a claim. No employer should take adverse action against an employer who:

• Joins up together to discuss ways to improve their working conditions. You can have a discussion on any social medial platform to discuss how your legal rights in workplace are being violated.
• Have a right to post about the poor working environment, poor benefits, or complaints about working for long hours. However, this must be done by more than two employees. A single employee may not have such as this cannot be counted as protected activity.

Your employer has no legal right to ask you as an applicant or an employee about your username and password. However, the information should only be disclosed when they deem it reasonable useful for investigation purposes, such as in violation of the law. You can take a step to ensure your social media account will not be a deal-breaker for searching for a job, or when you need some pay raise.  If you are illegally disciplined because you claimed your rights were violated as a group of employees or you are a job applicant whose social media accounts were used unlawfully, your best decision would be to look for an experienced employment lawyer who can help protect you from such violations.

Knowing what your employer is likely to be looking for would greatly help keep your foot forward regarding any employment action. To decrease the odds that you will have a hard time seeking a job. You can make sure to use the right kind of pictures, videos, or any other information that may be used against you.

Getting Legal Help

Any information you post on social media could get you in trouble. Therefore, before you think about a claim, consulting a lawyer would help distinguish between illegal and legal use of your Facebook or Twitter information.

As an employee, makes sure you don’t post updates that may show any failure in your company when airing your grievances, not unless more than two employees do it. When you post anything on your social medial platforms, it becomes impossible to retract such information. You may not think about the afterward consequences as you attract readers. This may be a drawback to getting a promotion, or you may even be fired.