Facebook provides people with a great way to get in touch and stay in touch with friends and relatives and communicate with people all around the world. Businesses also use Facebook to communicate with customers, advertise their products and services, and grow their business. The social media site clearly provides the employer, employee, or prospect employee with great benefits, but controversy over boundaries has been the subject of heated debate.
Two U.S. senators have called on the Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate whether employers can ask for Facebook passwords. The topic has also been the subject of litigation. The main issues are that of privacy and security. On Friday March 23rd Facebook issued a public statement indicating it is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password. According to Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan, the website has a strict privacy policy that prohibits unauthorized access to personal information. These concerns are sure to be a hot topic as the controversy over legality remains an issue.
Check with Compliance Poster Company as we keep you posted on developments with this subject. We have a dedicated Legal Research Team hard at work to keep your business in compliance with state and federal labor laws and related Human Resources and employment topics.