Hiring and firing in the Facebook age: social networking and employment law are still forging a working relationship.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

More than a few jobs have been lost because of posts on Facebook. In fact, there is even a Facebook Group called "Fired By Facebook" dedicated to the concept, [paragraph] Waitresses have been fired for complaining about customers. Firefighters and airline employees have been fired for questioning management policies. An employee of the Philadelphia Eagles was fired for colorfully criticizing the team's decision to let All-Pro safety Brian Dawkins become a Denver Bronco.

But there are legal implications lo tiring for not hiring) someone for what they have posted on Facebook or another online social network, and the courts and relevant federal agencies have vet. To definitively sort out the confluence between social media and employment law. One of the first definitive decisions came from the Federal Trade Commission in June when it gave a thumb's up to Social Intelligence Corp., a pre-employment screening firm in Santa Barbara, Calif! The PTC decided Social Intelligence's background checks that cull seven years of a subject's online activity were in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

"The laws on this are evolving," says Jerry Thurber, president of Tandem Select, a pre-employment screening-services firm in Fort Collins. "There's a lot of different things through the court systems about what vou can and cant access and what vou can or can't do." Thurber believes it could be 2016 before the law is concrete on hiring and social networking. In the meantime, he advises employers lo practice some restraint.

"All of these people who say, 'This guy didn't get a job because he had a party and posted photos of it online,' I think those people deserve to be sued," Thurber says. "It's totally irrelevant."

While he feels hiring managers need to be careful, Thurber does not believe employees and job candidates should avoid Facebook and other social media until the Supreme Court renders a decision on the subject. Far from it: He sees it as a great tool for the employee, if not always the employer. "I'm a firm believer people are applying a 1990s mindset to social networking," he says. "It's fear-based rather than opportunity-based."

Big Brother aside, "Most people in their 20s and 30s, and even in their 40s and 50s, see social media as a way of enhancing and building their careers." Thurber says. "You're kind of building 'Brand You.'

"What we see in today's world as recruiters, it's not too uncommon for people to add their Facebook page to...