EthicsTalk: Using Facebook to Screen Job Applicants

Dear EthicsTalk:

My company’s hiring manager checked the Facebook pages of three job candidates. She found a photo of one female candidate with three small children.

The hiring manager eliminated her from consideration, assuming that she was a mother of three who couldn’t meet the job’s demands for long hours, frequent travel, and last-minute projects.

Is the hiring manager allowed to do this? What should I do? Signed: Fear of Facebook

Dear Fear of Facebook:

Thank you for confirming that dinosaurs still walk the earth.

Federal law prohibits an employer from basing hiring decisions on stereotypes and assumptions about a person's sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy). Your hiring manager likely went looking on social media because she knows... (Click here for complete column)