How Else Will Your Privacy Be Taken?

In the article Looking for a Job?  Beware of this Privacy Risk, you learned how looking for work could lead to a breach in your privacy.  This is a risk for only those who are currently looking for a job.  There is another privacy risk that should be a concern to everyone, regardless of age or state of employment.  Employers and schools are demanding to know your social media information.

Many companies do not want their names mentioned in social media unless they have control over what is being said.  The only way these companies have to keep control over this is by checking each employee’s social media accounts to make sure nothing derogatory is being said about the company.  Because anyone can set privacy controls, the only way to know everything that an employee says on social media is to have full access to the accounts.  That is why employers are asking for the log-in names and passwords of all employees. 

 

Employers are not only looking for what is said about the company, or if the employee has the company name listed as their place of employment, they are also looking for anything inappropriate that may be posted.  Pictures of wild parties or visits to a nude beach may just get you fired.  True, these parties and beach pictures were taken on your leisure time, but now, unless you have a contract, you are considered an “at will” employee.  This means that your employer can terminate your employment for any reason.  Even if you have a contract, most of them have a morals clause, so any inappropriate postings could void the contract.

Losing Privacy While Seeking Employment

As we all know, the rate of unemployment all over the US is staggering.  Many of these unemployed people are without jobs through no fault of their own.  Many companies are closing their doors, and with so many people out of work and looking for jobs, this gives employers a chance to try new methods of weeding out “undesirable” candidates.  One of the methods now being used is to ask each candidate to agree to a credit check at the time an application is submitted. 

 

What does a credit check have to do with one’s ability to work?  Well, according to employers, if someone has bad credit, they are considered a high risk for corporate theft.  So, if you have bad credit, you will not be getting an interview.  By using this theory, instead of creating a time frame for 20 interviews, that number can be lowered to 5 or less with the click of a button.

True, prospective employees aren’t forced to submit to this credit check, however, if you don’t agree, your application will not be considered.  The employers hold all the cards on this. 

 

There are a few flaws with this method of choosing potential employees:

1.  Each time a credit check is run, it lowers your credit score.  Credit reporting services don’t see this as an employment check; they just see it as you looking to get approval to raise your credit limit or to add yet another credit account.

2.  If you file applications with several companies, all of which are receiving your credit report.  This means that an unknown number of strangers are privy to not only your credit score, but also know each bank and amount you have credit with.

 

3.  You will not be given a chance to explain your low credit score.  Employers don’t care WHY the credit score is low; they just care that it IS low.

4.  Employers don’t take into consideration that you haven’t paid your bills because you’ve been unemployed.  They see the low credit score and automatically assume that you will steal from the company.  It doesn’t seem to cross anyone’s mind that you want a job not to steal, but to earn money to pay your bills in order to raise your credit score.