Germany makes proposal to ban Facebook from employment screening in European law

A new law to be voted on by German parliament later this year could see employers banned from using Facebook during the pre employment screening process, reports People Management magazine.

Legislation proposed and backed by the chancellor's cabinet this month could make it illegal for potential employers to use the postings and photos held on social networks in their consideration of job applicants. The New York Times reports that the proposed bill is a reaction to a growth in public concern about online privacy in Germany, where regulators have a reputation for heavy scrutiny of information gathering online.
Although any change to Germany's law will have no impact on businesses within the UK, this is one of the first legal responses within the EU to a concern felt in countries all across the world. Earlier this year, a report in The Telegraph claimed that half of employers have rejected a potential worker based on their Facebook profile, whilst a later report in The Times put the figure at one in five.

The issue became even more prevalent in May this year, when changes to Facebook's privacy settings gave presumed consent for public access to many aspects of a users profile on the social network. Photos, videos, personal information and posts could be viewed by almost everyone on the site under the new default setting. Although many have since changed the settings, the issue of personal privacy and the use of social networks remains open.

However as yet, Germany is the only country that has seriously proposed to enact legislation based upon the growing availability of personal details on such websites.

Under the proposed changes, Germany will not make online checks completely out of bounds for employment screening of job applicants. General web searches on applicants would still be allowed, as long as all information was held in the public domain or on professional networks such as LinkedIn.

However employers will be restricted from asking applicants to give them access to their social network profiles, such as by inviting them to become "friends" on Facebook.

The Associated Press report that interior minister Tomas De Maizere has admitted that the new regulations may be complicated to enact, not least because many people are "indiscriminate" about who they accept as a friend on social networks.
According to People Management, the bill is set for discussion in the German parliament before a vote takes place later in the year. The country's data protection watchdog, Peter Schaar applauded the government's effort, describing it as "a substantial improvement on the status quo in dealing with employee's data."