EmployeeScreenIQ

One city has been under scrutiny as of late for requiring job seekers to provide social networking information as part of the background check process.

Bozeman, Montana previously made any job seeker looking to work for the city reveal all of their login information to social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, as well as e-mail accounts like Google and Yahoo. The city claimed this was part of its normal background check procedure.

However, news of the requirement quickly created a controversy about potential employees' right to privacy. Various reports state that a news station in Montana was informed about the practice. After the news leaked, city officials began receiving one e-mail per minute about the background check policy.

On top of that, an online poll bringing in more than 5,000 votes found that 98 percent of the respondents thought the policy was an invasion of privacy. Those against the policy also quoted Article 2, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution, which states that "the right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest."

Even though the city has since suspended the requirement pending "a more comprehensive evaluation," officials are still standing behind the background check policy.

"We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here," the city attorney said. "So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city."

On the other hand, officials from Facebook said that the city's policy "is a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which received feedback from users and was ultimately approved in a site-wide vote."

Labels: Background checks