Illinois Bans Employers From Requesting Social Networking Information

On August 1, 2012, Illinois became the second state in the country to enact a law prohibiting employers from requesting that employees provide login or password information for a social networking website or demanding that employees grant them access to any non-public portion of the employee’s social networking website. The law was enacted to combat the growing trend of employers requiring prospective and current employees to grant their employers access to their private social networking accounts, for the purpose of thoroughly vetting or investigating the individual. While the law certainly prevents employers from continuing to engage in such intrusive behavior, it also incentivizes employers to avoid exposing themselves to the liability that snooping through a social networking website can bring. In light of this new law, employers must completely avoid requesting login, username, or password information from any current or perspective employees and avoid retrieving any information from social networking websites that is not available in the public domain.