Many employers review their applicants’ Facebook and Instagram pages to get an unfiltered view of the candidates they are considering hiring. But, if you ask for applicants’ social media passwords, you could violate state law, and even limiting searches to public pages can provoke a discrimination claim. Here are five rules to keep your organization out of trouble: 1. Notify your applicants that you will be investigating them on publicly accessible Internet and social media sites and get their permission to do so. 2. Look only at information posted publicly. 3. If you use an outside party to conduct the research, make sure you are following the FCRA’s comprehensive notice, consent, and disclosure obligations. 4. If you discover information about an applicant’s protected class or legally protected activities, make sure you do not use that information as part of your decision-making process. 5. Document your search and include the information in the applicant’s file.

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