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Taking pictures of job applicants

RedbudptRedbudpt 55 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down

The owners of our company are wanting to take pictures of all job candidates so that they "will be able to remember them" this is truly the reason that they wish to start this. I am completely against doing this due to the legal can of worms this could potentially open.  Can someone help me with information/data that I can bring to them to show what could potentially happen if we start taking pictures of applicants.

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  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • BarbieWBarbieW 117 Posts
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    I see many potential pitfalls with taking pictures of candidates.  The most important is that supervisors and managers should be remembering candidates based on their qualifications and ability to do the job, and not how they look.  By having photos, supervisors and managers are reminded of gender, age, race or ethnicity, and maybe a possible disability.  This information has no place in the hiring process.  Moreover, if there was a discrimination claim, the photo taken at the time will be discoverable and used in court.  Finally, I think there may be privacy implications and some very good candidates may be reluctant to make their photographs part of a file before they are hired.

     

     

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  • cappycappy 217 Posts
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    I agree with everything that Barbie has said. The liability exposure is huge if there is a discrimination complaint by a protected class. In fact the idea of taking candidates pictures should have gone the way of the dinosaur by now. 

    Don't do it! Bad idea! Bad practice! Huge exposure! 

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  • IT HRIT HR 595 Posts
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    Barbie said it, bad idea.  Because so many people are looking for work, when they don't get hired, they are looking for reasons why they may not have been hired to potentially file a suit against a company.  Do a google search for Discrimination claims in hiring and see if you find any law firm articles related to this.  I know I have seen many headlines recently about the number of claims going up regarding hiring practices because so many people are looking for work right now.  These articles could help in your defense to the owners of why this is not a good idea at all.
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