New Jersey Passes Social Media Privacy Law

I have reported in the past on state laws protecting employee social media privacy, including social media password laws adopted by Illinois and Colorado.  Just last week, New Jersey Governor Christie signed legislation that prohibits employers from requiring employees and job candidates to disclose social media usernames and passwords, similar to the bans adopted by 11 other states.  New Jersey's law is different from other states in one important area, however - the law exempts public safety employers (including the department of corrections, state parole board, county corrections departments, and state and local police departments) from the law.  New Jersey employers can require employees to provide business-related social media passwords, to conduct investigations to ensure compliance with laws and policies, and to view and use information available in the public domain. 

 

A previous version of this bill had been approved earlier this year, but was vetoed by Governor Christie, who proposed a variety of changes that were incorporated into the enacted law. 

 

You can read the new law (and see the changes that were incorporated from the introduced version of the bill) here.