There is a fairly good chance that if you turned on the news, or read the paper this morning (April 16th, 2009), you noticed Domino’s Pizza in the headlines. The last time they made headlines this big was when their drivers were caught going above the speed limit for fear of not delivering on-time and losing their jobs. This time it is for a few workers that defaced customer’s food before delivering or serving it – and posted that in a video on the Internet.
The main issue in the news is about the food. The secondary issue which will come to light is the fact that this inappropriate behavior by employees will launch a new interest for companies to scan the Internet and social networking sites for information on their future hires (and maybe their current ones). This is a controversial issue because that act of doing such a search to determine job eligibility is thought to be a possible strike against freedom of speech. Some have even called it an invasion of privacy. Since the information is published on the Internet, it is seen mostly in the law’s eyes as publicly available and usable. In other words it’s a big “gray area” that will probably inspire many legal battles.
A dilemma can arise for an employer thinking of scanning the Internet as part of a background check. Do they take a chance on a civil suit if the employee does not get hired? Or do they take the chance on not finding something and getting burnt by a bad hire, the Domino’s situation being a possible end example. Since precedents have not been set regarding the act of scanning the internet as part of an employee background check, doing or not doing it can end up being a difficult decision for some.
Click Here if you are interested in the Domino’s situation from the perspective of workforce.com.
-Lawrence C
It Tech (ciilink.com)
Corporate Investigations Inc 