At HR Law & Solutions earlier this year, we brought back Employment Law IQ: our employment law game show, designed to help attendees spot potential legal issues and learn strategies to mitigate risks from those issues. As promised at the seminar, we will share a few scenarios here on the blog over the next few weeks to further test your Employment Law IQ.

First up? Social media and hiring. Social media policies and privacy settings can be source of pain for employees and employers alike, but they are critical in this electronic age. But the considerations go beyond social media policies — employers must also take care in how they use information learned from social media and other online searches during the employment process.

Question. What would you do in this scenario? You are looking to hire a general manager. While doing an online search of the top candidates, you discover that one of the candidates has blogged about his recovery from alcohol addiction. Based on your online discovery, you decide to hire another candidate who is as equally qualified. Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Your hiring decision is unlawful because all online searches of applicants violate the EEOC guidelines on pre-selection criteria.

B.  Your hiring decision is lawful because the first candidate self-disclosed his status as a former alcoholic.

C.  Your hiring decision is unlawful because it is based on the first candidate’s disability.

D.  Your hiring decision is lawful because the first candidate is not disabled under the ADA.Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: Hiring Decisions Based on Social Media Postings