With the rise in popularity of social media, LinkedIn has become a powerful networking and job-searching tool. In addition to posting resumes online, members can solicit recommendations from employers and others with whom they have done business.
But an article in yesterday’s National Law Journal warns employers against providing these recommendations for employees — even if they are positive. Employment lawyers caution that positive recommendations on social networking sites can be used as evidence in a discrimination lawsuit. They envision a situation where an employee is let go for poor performance, but the employer, not wanting to seem callous, writes a good recommendation for the employee’s LinkedIn profile. If the employee then files an employment discrimination suit, the positive recommendation could be used as evidence that the employee’s performance was good and that discrimination was the real reason for the termination.
The article quotes Carolyn Plump, a partner at Mitts Milavec in Philadelphia on the wisdom of supervisors posting comments about departing employees on LinkedIn:
“Just don’t do it. Generally, my advice is that I think employers are often better served by merely stating dates of employment, positions with the company and salary, and staying away from much more because there are so many potential ramifications if they say something.”
