Despite billing itself as a professional network, unprofessional behavior isn’t a new complaint by users of LinkedIn. “I’ve had my fair share of weird messages on LinkedIn, so my standard practice is not to accept invites from anyone (mostly men) that I do not know or are not affiliated with my industry,” said a woman who works for a technology firm and requested anonymity for professional reasons. “In short, [LinkedIn] is not much more professional than any other social network site, in that people are messy and bring their messes everywhere.”
LinkedIn is the closest thing Stephanie McDonald has to a workplace. McDonald, a Charleston, South Carolina-based recruiter, runs her own business and spends the majority of her day messaging potential hires on the professional networking service. She said multiple prospective candidates have asked her out on a date over LinkedIn, and she often gets flirty messages. Once, a man asked if she would be willing to have phone conversations with him weekly, for money. “That one was definitely the worst and made me think about getting off of LinkedIn,” McDonald, 49, said.
McDonald sometimes responds by saying she’s not interested, stressing that she uses LinkedIn for professional purposes. “Some people don’t say anything; some people come back and are pretty cruel,” she said. She disconnected from a man who asked to pay for her phone companionship, but she could still see when he had looked at her profile.
If people want to transition a working relationship to a personal relationship, she advises they move to a different medium.
Hallie Crawford, a certified career coach, strongly advises against flirting on LinkedIn. “I don’t think its appropriate, honestly, at all,” she said. “It is supposed to be a professional platform.” If people want to transition a working relationship to a personal relationship, she advises they move to a different medium. She tells clients to ignore any flirty messages. If the behavior continues, she suggests reiterating the professional nature of the platform and relationship.
Occasionally, women are driven to delete their LinkedIn accounts entirely. Jennifer Hoffman, who identifies herself as a businesswoman and a former contestant on the television show, The Apprentice, said she was asked on dates, hit on, and sexually harassed on a daily basis via the platform. “I think that a woman with a public profile on any social media platform is subject to a certain level of harassment, but basic HR guidelines dictate that you don’t sexually harass people at work—and I considered LinkedIn a work environment,” she said. “So I deleted my profile. I don’t plan on making a new one or joining LinkedIn again.”
As for whether LinkedIn truly is an extension of the workplace—a place where under settled law an employer can be held responsible for the actions of an employee in the course of their duties—will be the subject of the Los Angeles litigation. SunTrust was notified of Eichler’s alleged behavior in a letter sent by Doe’s attorney last month. According to the complaint, the financial institution’s lawyer told Doe's attorneys that “she was ‘perplexed’ why the SunTrust corporate defendants would be responsible for conduct committed by defendant Eichler using his professional LinkedIn account” and said his alleged behavior, which Does said included job recruiting discussions, was “outside the course and scope of his employment.”
SunTrust didn’t reply to a request for comment on the matter or the lawsuit.
“Corporate sexual harassment training must meet the demands of an evolving digital world,” said Doe’s attorney, Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos.
Doe, who said she received the lewd image on the same day she became engaged, has locked down her social media accounts.