Human Resource Materials Archives

#MeToo Allegations on the Rise in Corporate USA

“People are recognizing the impact — and this is the #MeToo movement — of harassment on people, and how it can impact their careers for years.”
Victoria Lipnic, acting chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

According to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) the data shows a sharp increase in sexual harassment cases in 2018 by as much as 12%.

Based on preliminary data, in FY 2018:

The EEOC filed 66 harassment lawsuits, including 41 that included allegations of sexual harassment. That reflects more than a 50 percent increase in suits challenging sexual harassment over fiscal year 2017.
In addition, charges filed with the EEOC alleging sexual harassment increased by more than 12 percent from fiscal year 2017.
Overall, the EEOC recovered nearly $70 million for the victims of sexual harassment through litigation and administrative enforcement in FY 2018, up from $47.5 million in FY 2017.

More and more companies are being advised to begin a reputation management program within their organization to precede potential threats to their executives and employees.

When Is It Illegal to Fire an Employee over Social Media Posts?

Here are some examples of when an employee’s social media posts should not result in firing, even if it may seem warranted otherwise:

When the post is protected in some way. The most prominent example that some employers overlook or get wrong: Employees should not be fired when their social media post could be considered “concerted activity” and could, therefore, be protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Concerted activity includes discussing working environment among coworkers—even in a negative way in public. Employers can get into trouble when they’re too restrictive in their social media policies—over broad restrictions or repercussions can go against an employee’s NLRA rights.

When there are specific rules that must be followed before a termination (and those are not followed). For example, there may be contractual stipulations with the employee’s union that outline steps that must be taken before any termination. If those steps aren’t followed, the termination may be illegal—even if it would have been fine otherwise.

When the social media post represents some other protected activity, like whistle-blowing, or protected reporting of something else, such as discrimination or harassment.

When the employer/employee are in a state that has other protections. Some states do not allow employers to fire employees for conduct outside of work, as long as the activities themselves are legal. This means that it would be much more difficult for an employer in one of these places to fire someone for conduct it finds distasteful that is still nonetheless legal. Some places also have protections in place for political speech.

*Source: HR Daily Advisor

There is no better time than right now to begin a corporate monitoring program and to be very aware of what is being said about your company and your employees online. A PR social media nightmare can happen in a millisecond and repercussions can last for years.

The Dangers of Doing Your Own Social Media Background Checks

Why do we feel the need to post even the most minute details of our lives on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the dozens of other social media platforms? Because social media is now a part of our daily lives and without we feel lost. What users don’t realize is that everything they post is a reflection of them…the good, bad, and ugly.

For employers, this seems like a treasure trove with social media being the perfect place to begin a background check. And every once in a while you hear stories pop up of applicants losing out on opportunities because prospective employers discovered something incriminating on their social media pages.
However, employers now need to think twice before checking applicants’ social media pages for background information. Why you ask? Let’s dive deeper into this issue.

Protected Information
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminating against people in employment. Particularly, it outlaws discrimination on the basis of color, race, gender, religion and national origin. This makes it illegal to deny someone employment on the basis of these characteristics (classified as “protected information”).
Visiting an applicant’s social media page is almost guaranteed to provide access to protected information. The pictures and posts most often reveal an applicant’s gender, race, color and so on. Just accessing this information is a breach of anti-discrimination laws. If an applicant finds out and sues the employer, it becomes extremely difficult for the employer to claim that the information did not play a part in their decision making.
If you really must conduct a social media background check, your best option is to have a third-party person screen applicants based on specific criteria for jobs. This way, hiring managers can make their decisions about applicants without knowing characteristics like race, ethnicity or marital status.

False Image/Mistaken Identity
What happens when a social media background check comes back squeaky-clean? Nothing embarrassing, unethical or illegal is found…does this mean that the applicant is flawless? Obviously no, everybody knows that people can create multiple social media accounts.
Most people who behave in questionable ways online often create pseudonyms, accounts with no relation to their actual names. This factor reveals another flaw in conducting social media background checks. Because people mask their identities online, the check can reveal nothing incriminating. Meanwhile, the applicant can be far from squeaky clean.
Another problem with running a search is the possibility of mistaken identity. How do you know that the John Smith you’re looking at is the same one applying for a position? If there are multiple accounts with similar names the risk of misidentifying the person, and thus making a wrong decision is quite high.
Even when the account contains personal details and pictures of the applicant, this doesn’t mean that it is owned and run by them. There have been numerous cases where people – with the sole aim of malice – have created accounts in the names of other people. These accounts are often filled with enough personal details to make them look authentic. They are then peppered with racist, misogynistic, pornographic or other kinds of content designed to make the person look bad.

What Can Employers Do?
There are so many legal issues to avoid when using social media in the candidate screening processes, some HR professionals might wonder whether it’s worth all the trouble. The answer is yes—if it’s done carefully. Social media can expand the pool of applicants and shed valuable light on job candidates—when a disciplined approach is used, experts say.
“The benefits of using social media in recruiting are clear,” said David S. Baffa, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago. Although it’s true there is a potential for costly lawsuits against employers who misuse social media, “most of the stuff you hear about potential risks, I haven’t seen it play out in litigation.”
The biggest concern with using social media in the hiring process is discrimination. Social media provides employers with information that they might not obtain otherwise or might not obtain until they conduct a face-to-face interview. Once the process moves to the screening phase, have someone other than the employment decision-maker do the screening, advises Jason Morris, president and COO of EmployeeScreenIQ in the Cleveland area. “Create a firewall between this person and the decision-maker,” he said, particularly if the screening will involve social media sites.
The screener should look online for certain red flags such as hate speech, violent tendencies, or drug use that would have a direct bearing on the candidate’s potential job performance. Employers should keep in mind that background-screening companies that use social media sites are subject to the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, under which applicants must give permission for pre-employment investigations.

Diversify the Applicant Pool
Another problem with using social media—particularly LinkedIn and Facebook—is that these sites have lower percentages of Latino and black users than are in the general population. That puts the burden on employers to widen their job searches through other means, such as job boards, newspapers, magazines and job fairs. Experts urge organizations to post notices on their websites that they are equal opportunity employers and that they seek a diverse pool of applicants from many sources.

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Are Background Checks Failing Us?

All one has to do these days is turn on the local news to hear about another teacher, coach or employee being accused of a crime of either drugs or child sexual abuse. If you are like me, the first question you think of is, “Don’t they do background checks?” What we are starting to find out, is yes they do. The problem is with the way in which the background checks are being done and by whom.

Let’s start with the basics and the must haves. The FCRA, or the Fair Credit Reporting Act, was passed in 1970 to ensure regulations of the collection of credit information. Additionally, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission governs how this is to be done:

In all cases, make sure that you’re treating everyone equally. It’s illegal to check the background of applicants and employees when that decision is based on a person’s race, national origin, color, sex, religion, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), or age (40 or older). For example, asking only people of a certain race about their financial histories or criminal records is evidence of discrimination.

Where the problem lies, in may cases, is with the actual agencies in which background companies receive their information. They may not be updated regularly enough. That in and of itself is a problem. But the list goes on…

You may be surprised to learn the following flaws:

The FBI offers a National Criminal Information Center which is great, as long as the crime was reported to the FBI. Beginning in 1967, it is dependent on records that have been provided by criminal justice agencies. It operates under a shared management concept between the FBI and federal, state, local and tribal criminal justice users.
Many times education is not checked out thoroughly which can be very detrimental down the road. This includes professional licenses.
They often don’t utilize the information from paid data bases.
Social Media is rarely included. I don’t mean the prospective employee gives up passwords. That should not ever be done in my opinion, however much can be gleaned by conducting a deep web investigation, without that information. A social media background check may reveal quite a lot about the character of the individual. Many HR execs are looking anyway, however hiring an agency is the safest way to go. A best practice is to never review your candidates’ social media profiles internally. This is beneficial because an agency’s review and social media report respect your candidate’s privacy and alleviates your employees from reviewing content that could lead to accusations of discrimination or violations of freedoms.

Online Reputation Management

It’s not just about resumes anymore…

When applying to college and potential jobs, experts now advise you take it a step further. Creating or updating a LinkedIn profile as well as examining your social media pages can save your reputation and make sure you are putting our best foot forward. It’s good practice to check a few times a year, and remove potentially embarrassing or damaging information. Removing information from the web doesn’t mean it’s gone forever — you should be ready to account for it — but at least you are taking control of the profile that everyone will see. You are updating your online persona to reflect who you are today.

Ann Yates, principal with the executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, explains, “In my work as a search consultant, there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t speak with candidates for administrative jobs about a personal or career misstep they’ve made and how to handle it in the hiring process. Because so much information is available about job candidates today, search committees must think carefully about how it influences their decisions.”

“They are going to click on your profile,” says Alan Katzman, the chief executive of Social Assurity, a company that offers courses for high school students on how to shape their online images. Last year, Mr. Katzman’s company advised a high school senior in the Washington area to create a detailed LinkedIn profile and include a link on his application to Harvard. Soon after, LinkedIn notified the student that someone from Harvard had checked out his profile. Mr. Katzman says that high school students who use social media to showcase themselves may gain an edge with colleges. “No one has quantified the power of this,” Mr. Katzman told me recently. “But I maintain that it is very powerful.”

Vicky Rideout, a researcher who studies how teenagers use technology, says “Using LinkedIn on college applications, she says, “is yet another way for there to be a disparity between the haves and the have-nots.” A recent study from Kaplan Test Prep of about 400 college admissions officers reported that 40% said they had visited applicants’ social media pages, a fourfold increase since 2008.

Some high school students are establishing LinkedIn profiles to give the colleges that do look something they would like them to find. Students who naturally tailor posts for their peers on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook told me they used the professional network as a separate space to market their accomplishments to adults.

“I did not make a LinkedIn profile for my friends,” says Matthew Martratt, a 17-year-old high school senior in Marietta, Ga., who is an Eagle Scout and a member of his school’s marching band and organizes community service projects. “I made it to show people who don’t know who I am what I am about.”

Mr. Martratt, who took a LinkedIn course from Social Assurity, said he followed colleges to which he intended to apply on LinkedIn and Twitter and posted about them. “It’s like sending them an invitation to look at my profile,” he said. “When I get likes or notifications back, it shows that they are looking.”

LinkedIn has proven it’s the place to find and be found. The site has well over a million and a half student jobs and internships. And more than 9 in 10 companies use LinkedIn to recruit new hires.

Want to make your profile stand out?

Follow these top tips:

1) Upload an appropriate photo. Profiles with photos get 14x more views.

2) Write an informative but catchy profile headline.

This is a short, memorable professional slogan. It’s the one thing you want a recruiter, hiring manager, or future co-worker to know about you.

3) Make good use of the Summary statement.

Think of the Summary like the first few paragraphs of your best-written cover letter: Concise about your experience, qualifications, and goals. Describe what motivates you, what you’ve done and are skilled at, and what makes you unique. Be clear and confident!

4) Be smart about your experience.

List the jobs you’ve held and a brief description of what you were responsible for and what you accomplished. This section can be more or less detailed than your resume. What really matters is that you’re not leaving out critical details about your work history.

And don’t forget your volunteer activities. 20% of hiring managers in the U.S. say they’ve hired someone because of volunteer experience. It’s also a good profile addition because it reveals your passions and rounds you out as a human being.

5) Show your work.

You can now add real examples of your writing, analysis, design portfolios, or other work directly on your profile. Upload or link to rich media, documents, or presentations. This helps make your profile more visual and interesting, while demonstrating your value as an up-and-coming professional.

Social Media Employee Training Guide

Do what today others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t.
― Brian Rogers Loop

This adage applies to many things in life, but is especially true when it comes to social media. Once something is posted in social media, its hard to unsee what you have seen.

By now many businesses have realized that proactively listening to brand mentions online is a smart thing to do at a relatively low cost. Social Media Management firms can handle this for you, making sure you don’t miss a beat on the web. The one area that is a little harder to track is your employees. It may be time to educate your employees on the importance of projecting a positive presence in social media not only for their own career, but for the reputation of the company they work for.

One recent example is of an employee of Little Cesars posting in social media about a customer. On May 30, 2018, an employee posted not only a vulgar message about the customer, he posted her picture on Instagram. The customer got home and her 16 year-old daughter told her she was on Instagram! The customer then called her local news channel and the rest is history!

So, where do you begin? The first place to begin is with your social media marketing department. Check out what they are seeing in their social media listening. Are they capturing any employee posts about work? Most likely this is hard to find by simply monitoring the brand name. Most times an employee will not mention the brand name in the post. In the case of Little Caesars, the employee used “lil caesars”, which should be added to keyword searches in their monitoring software.

We suggest incorporating social media policies into your training program. Use stories like the one above ( there are several of these on the internet you can find as well) as a way to showcase what not to do. Stories stick in the human brain much more and make a much bigger impact on a new employee.

Asking employees not to post anything with regard to their job is not out of line and can be incorporated into a confidentiality agreement too. Setting up guidelines upfront on what is acceptable will save you a lot of problems down the line.

Want to make your profile stand out?

Follow these top tips:

Do what today others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t. ― Brian Rogers Loop

Do what today others won’t, so tomorrow, you can do what others can’t.
― Brian Rogers Loop