EmployeeScreenIQ

Employees in one city are taking fault after requiring job seekers to provide social networking information while undergoing criminal background checks.

According to several reports, three city employees in Bozeman, Montana, were recently disciplined after asking potential candidates to provide information regarding their personal social networking sites. As a result, the assistant city manager, fire chief and human resources director were all put on six months probation.

As we reported in a previous post, city officials were asking any job seeker looking to work for the city to 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. At the time, the city claimed this was part of its normal background check procedure.

But news of the new requirement spread quickly and created a controversy, as many people began wondering if the requirement should be considered a violation of potential employees' right to privacy.

Various reports stated 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."

Soon after, the city suspended its requirement pending "a more comprehensive evaluation." In addition, Facebook officials stated that the city's policy was "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: Criminal background checks