The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has commended recent moves by the social networking site Facebook to restrict employer's access to prospective and current employees' Facebook accounts. The ATCU said that "unions have been increasingly concerned about moves by employers to delve into their employees' personal lives".
Facebook's chief privacy officer said the company had witnessed employers seeking inappropriate access to people's Facebook profiles or private information. The most concerning practices were the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or current employees to reveal their passwords. (It is now a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password).
These practices could also potentially expose employers who seek access to unanticipated legal claims. For example, an employer may discover a prospective employee's religion or age on gaining access to their Facebook account, and may open themselves up to claims of unlawful discrimination, if they don't employ the applicant.
The other side of the coin is of course that employees who use social media inappropriately in the course of their employment or who damage the employer's reputation through private use may find themselves subject to disciplinary action by the employer. Whether that action is justified may in turn depend on whether the employer has a well-drafted social media policy.
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