Legislation currently in Congress – H. R. 537, the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA) – would enhance social media privacy by protecting users of social networking sites from having to divulge personal information such as usernames and passwords to employers and schools. Re-introduced by Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-16), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9), and Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY-11), SNOPA would protect employees, job applicants, students, and people facing disciplinary action from being required to give information used to access online accounts. The full text of the SNOPA legislation is available at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr537/text. (more…)

At least 28 states have legislation that has been introduced or is pending in 2013 to prevent employers from requesting usernames and passwords to various social media and personal Internet accounts of employees and job applicants to get or keep a job, according the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). A list of legislation regarding employer access to social media information as of February 15, 2013 is available on the NCSL website at http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/telecom/employer-access-to-social-media-passwords-2013.aspx. (more…)

To review the potential dangers employers face using so-called “social media background checks,” Attorney Lester Rosen, Founder and CEO of Employment Screening Resources (ESR), will participate in a live 90 minute audio conference ‘Screening Applicants Using Social Networking Sites: Legal or Liability?’ on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM EST. To register for the event presented with education services provider Lorman, visit http://www.lorman.com/audio-conference/390956. (more…)

For the last day of the year, nationwide accredited background check provider Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – http://www.esrcheck.com – has chosen the following ‘Top 20 Stories for Background Check Screening for 2012’ from the ESR News blog at http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/. Here are the top 20 stories for 2012 from ESR in order of the date posted: (more…)

In an effort to create stronger privacy protections for consumers, several states passed laws in 2012 regarding the collection and use of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of applicants and employees by employers during background checks, or had important privacy regulations passed in previous years take effect. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is requiring nine data broker companies that collect and sell personal information of consumers to reveal their privacy practices or lack thereof. The increased regulations for greater privacy protections for data collected during background checks is Trend Number 4 of the 6th Annual ‘ESR Top Ten Background Check Trends for 2013’ available at http://www.esrcheck.com/Top-Ten-Background-Check-Trends-for-2013.php. (more…)