In recent posts, we’ve discussed the legal privacy issues to which a pregnant Minnesota worker or job applicant is entitled. Yet a recent article questions whether social media might encourage inadvertent disclosure.
As a preliminary matter, prospective employers freely admit to using some online resources, such as LinkedIn and Google, to research job candidates. Whereas many human resource professionals regard LinkedIn as primarily a professional networking resource, the same attitude is not shared about social media sites like Twitter or Facebook.
Several months ago the New York Times published an article on why the #MeToo phenomenon has become one of the most important movements in the employment law arena.1 Journalist Susan Chira explained the results of a national online survey reporting that an astounding 81% of women and 43% of men had experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault in their lifetimes—including at home, and in their community or workplace. No other survey had reported numbers so high, suggesting that this type of conduct has been under-reported for years. In another survey conducted by the CDC, researchers noted that nearly 1 in 10 respondents reported being sexually harassed in the workplace within the past 12 months—though women, multi-racial individuals and divorced or separated individuals were significantly more likely to say they’d experienced such discrimination.2
On January 11, it was reported that President Donald Trump, during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House, where he rejected a bipartisan deal on a program affecting immigration to the United States, referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” and reportedly went on to state that the United States should have more people coming in from places like Norway. 
If you are a service member, especially a National Guard reservist, you may have questions about how, or even if, to include your military status on your resume. It’s a troubling question that we get frequently. We often get callers suspecting they missed out on a great job opportunity or a second round interview, suspecting it was due to the National Guard status on their resumes.
1. The law is complex: Employment Laws provide protection for both employees and employers. So you can rest assured your employer has legal representation and considers it a standard cost of doing business. Employees without access to sound legal advice find themselves at a considerable disadvantage when up against opposing counsel, and employers will take every opportunity to benefit from this inequity. They have already been preparing a defense to make sure any claims against them will fail.