Nearly half of U.S. states now have laws that prohibit employers from demanding access to employee social media accounts. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 20 states had implemented such restrictions as of July. All had passed their laws within the past three years.
The most recent state to implement such a law, Maine, offers a good example of what a comprehensive bill to protect employees' online privacy looks like.
To be clear, it doesn't mean that employers aren't free to browse the publicly-available content their employees or prospective hires post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the plethora of other online resources that tempt us to over-share.
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
