Facebook Demands In Illinois – Another One Bites The Dust

Another one bites the dust

And another one gone, and another one gone

Another one bites the dust

Hey, I’m gonna get you too

Another one bites the dust

As states (and the feds) continue to propose new bills on the issue, the second jurisdiction has now just done away with employer demands for social media passwords and account information.    Just this week, the Illinois legislature passed an amendment to that state’s “Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act,” in a short and sweet new law that: 

• Makes it unlawful for any employer “to request or require any employee or prospective employee to provide any password or other related account information in order to gain access to the . . .  account or profile on a social networking website[.]”
• Makes it unlawful for any employer “to demand access in any manner to an employee’s or prospective employee’s account or profile on a social networking website.”   [Presumably, this prohibition looks to avoid the situation where an employer does not specifically demand a password, but, for example, “requests” that the individual log in to the social media site in front of the employer.]

At the same time, this new Illinois law also makes it expressly clear that: 

• Employers are still permitted to “promulgate and maintain lawful workplace policies governing the use of the employer’s electronic equipment[.]”
• Employers are still permitted to “monitor usage of the employer’s electronic equipment and the employer’s electronic mail without requesting or requiring any employee or prospective employee to provide any password or other related account information[,]”
• Employers are not prohibited from otherwise obtaining information about an employee or prospective employee that is already in the public domain.

The Governor of Illinois is expected to sign the law.

Employer Take Away:   What should you as an employer take away from this development?   

If your jurisdiction hasn’t passed legislation on this issue yet, it will.   So keep watching.    And don’t take the approach that many still do:

Nothing really matters

Anyone can see

Nothing really matters

Nothing really matters to me

About Michael Schmidt

Michael C. Schmidt is the vice chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Department, and the office managing partner, vice chair, of the New York Midtown office, where he is resident. For more than two decades, Mike has concentrated his practice on representing companies and management in all facets of employment law, such as: (i) defense in litigation involving wage and hour (overtime and unpaid compensation), discrimination, harassment, retaliation and whistle-blowing, non-competes and trade secrets, and disability and other leave-related issues; (ii) day-to-day counseling and in-house training on issues from hiring to firing, and other questions unique to his client’s industries and business; and (iii) drafting and reviewing employment agreements, termination and severance agreements, confidentiality and non-competes, and employment policies and manuals.