Is it right that an employer in New Jersey can fire or hire you on what you wrote on a social media site? Well the answer might surprise you. In the state of New Jersey the answer is yes they can fire you for what you wrote on a social media site, plus the employer can take into account what you write about when looking at hiring you.
New Jersey does let the employer look at a perspective employee’s social media postings and better yet (for them) they can fire you for what you say after you are hired. If they do not like what you wrote because it conflicts with some company policy or for any other random reason that they can come up with, goodbye.
Yet New Jersey law does prevent your employer or prospective employer from asking for your password(s) to your social media account or accounts. So only your public utterances are the only ones you have to be careful about. Your private messages and such on social media sites are protected from an employer or prospective employer as long as you keep them private. Anything that can be seen by the public they can see and thus hire or fire you on what you said or did.
Can potential employers use information from social media when interviewing you; “Employers want to ensure a potential hire is qualified and will reflect well on the company. As a result, many employers conduct a background check that includes social media. An online profile can provide information on professional credentials, career objectives, maturity and judgment, abuse of drugs or alcohol, current employment status, and other red flags.”
Since this is legal in New Jersey to do you have to be very careful what you do, how you express your opinion(s) or what you write about. While you have freedom of speech, you can not offend or express opinions that might cause you to lose your job.
The following is from a law firm website (http://www.uhlaw.com/publications-760.html) and I think that it gives a very good look from the employer’s perspective:
“For businesses, including insurance agencies and their clients, social media can provide unprecedented opportunities. While the avenues social media allows for niche marketing and access to heretofore unattainable demographics are becoming generally known, social media also has a growing role in employers’ relationships with the people they hire, don’t hire, employ and, in more and more cases, terminate. For example, recent studies suggest that nearly forty percent (40%) of employers in the United States utilize some social media websites to screen, or screen out, job applicants. See “37 Percent Of Employers Use Facebook To Pre-Screen Applicants, New Study Says.” Huffington Post, April 20, 2012. But just as social media portrays employees or applicants acting irresponsibly, it also may reveal to the employer facets of the employee the employer has no legitimate business knowing. And therein lies significant risk. A person’s sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy or disability status all may be on display on social media, that person most likely will be able to use the employer’s knowledge of the protected classification against the employer. The “I didn’t know he was gay, etc.” defense, which if true can be highly effective in court, may be unavailable to the employer monitoring social media.”
So there is a risk for the employer too according to this law firm. And thus we all have to be careful what we say and how we express ourselves on social media. I hope that what you take away from this blog post is that you want to keep what is private, off the radar screen of your (prospective) employer and that what you say in public is being monitored.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
