Epstein Becker & Green : Take 5

This issue of Take 5 was written by Peter A. Steinmeyer, a Member of the Firm and the Managing Shareholder of Epstein Becker Green’s Chicago office. He is also the Co-Chair of the firm’s Non-Competes, Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group.

2. Beware of state laws banning employers from requesting social media passwords from employees and applicants.

Following the lead of Maryland, Illinois recently became the second state to enact a law banning employers from requesting or requiring disclosure of employee or applicant passwords for social media accounts.

Despite this limitation, the law does not prevent an employer from doing the following:

Maintaining policies governing the use of the employer's electronic equipment, including policies regarding Internet use, social networking site use, and electronic mail use;

Monitoring an employee’s work email account or the usage of the employer's electronic equipment; and

Accessing information about employees and job applicants that is in the public domain and not password protected.

Other states have proposed similar legislation. Accordingly, this is an issue for employers to follow, particularly those with multistate operations.

c 2012 Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.