Councilman Wants To Keep Employers Out Of Jobseekers' Facebook Accounts
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Philadelphia councilman wants to keep local employers out of the Facebook accounts of prospective new hires.
Councilman Bill Greenlee says he has received calls from job-hunters who say the potential employer wanted a password to access their otherwise-private Facebook page or other personal info.
He says that's a growing problem for job seekers in Philadelphia and in other cities. "They shouldn't be forced to give up their social media account, where employers or prospective employers can look into really what is their private business, which might divulge their political beliefs, their religious beliefs, their sexual orientation, that kind of thing. That shouldn't be the employer's business to know."
Greenlee now has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for Philadelphia employers to ask for passwords in order to check out the social media activity of potential hires. He says the firms should be limited only to Googling for what is publicly on line.
