Social Media In Canada

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According to a world-wide social survey, Canada ranks 9th under countries most engaged in social networking. Social media is prevalent in today’s society and is widely favoured with age groups from teenagers to seniors. Since social media is so universal, it is carried into places one would not normally think that it should. One of the greatest examples of this is in the situation of the workplace. Nowadays, employers use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help decide future employees for their company, whether they believe it to be moral or not. Legal action must be taken when an applicant’s social media footprint is tracked as it does not reflect their work ethic inside the workplace. Through the Canadian law, …show more content…

These law suits can range anywhere from breaches of confidence to defamation to inadequate contracts or policies. Sources of liability include three different Canadian legislations: Human Rights Legislation, Personal Information and Privacy Legislation and Worker’s Compensation Legislation. These legislations are strong factors for employees to not use social media to discriminate employees. The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) administers the Canadian Human Rights Act and ensures an agreement with the Employment Equity Act. The mandate of the CHRC is “to prevent or address discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, disabilities or conviction for an offence that has been pardoned. Their common vision is that of a society where everyone has an equal opportunity to live the lives they are able and wish to have, free from discrimination” (“Social Media Terms of Use”). The potential for discrimination via social media is another example of the tension between law and evolving technology. An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union states, “employers are not allowed to discriminate…whether they do it secretly or openly” (Weaver). Current policy does create legal risks for scanning through social media pages during the hiring process if managers are caught using that information in a discriminatory

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