Have your really thought that through? Do you really think someone should pass a law that requires potential employers to tell every applicant why they were not hired? Even if you did, do you really think that any potential employer would say “Gee, you were a great candidate but we hated your Facebook entries so we did not offer you the job?”. Not in this world.

Both Lineargirl and Beerzie make excellent points. However beyond those, as a practical matter, how would one go about banning the use of Facebook &c? There is no way either from legal or technical perspective to make such a ban effective nor is there way to detect a breach of this rule. In any event, putting a foolish thing on one’s facebook is no different than wearing a “Party Naked” tee-shirt and bringing a six pack of beer to a job interview, you are free to do it but don’t be surprised if you don’t get the job.

An employer is allowed to discriminate based on virtually any criteria that is within the control of the applicant. It’s legal to discriminate against someone based on the color or cut of a suit, on a choice of car, on the font on a resume, style of a handshake – in other words, on a multitude of things that will have little or no bearing on how well they could do the job. Why should how that person presents him- or herself on Facebook be afforded special consideration?