There has been a lot of hoo-ha lately on how employees should not ask prospective and current employees access to their Facebook account. While it might have merely been frowned upon in the past, it looks like a new legislation has been introduced that is looking to protect employees and prospective employees from employers who might be asking for access to their personal social media website accounts as part of the hiring condition. If this sounds familiar, it’s because such practices were banned in Maryland along with proposal of the SNOPA bill. This particular legislation has been dubbed the Password Protection Act some of its points include:
- Prohibits an employer from forcing prospective or current employees to provide access to their own private account as a condition of employment.
- Prohibits employers from discriminating or retaliating against a prospective or current employee because that employee refuses to provide access to a password-protected account.
- The Password Protection Act only prohibits adverse employment related actions as a consequence of an employee’s failure to provide access to their own private accounts. It preserves the rights of employers to:
- Permit social networking within the office on a voluntary basis.
- Set policies for employer-operated computer systems.
- Hold employees accountable for stealing data from their employers.
- Employers that violate the Password Protection Act may face financial penalties.
It certainly looks like this whole issue is being taken extremely seriously which we guess is a good thing for employees and those currently on the look for jobs!