Shortly after Utah inked its own law, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez signed S371 into law on April 5, 2013. Similar to the provisions in other states (such as, California, Illinois, Maryland and Michigan), S371 makes it illegal for employers to request or require applicants to provide a password, or demand access in any manner, to an applicant’s social media account or profile. Unlike some of the laws in other states, the New Mexico statute appears to apply only to prospective employees, but not current employees.

Additionally, S371 makes clear that certain activities by employers are not affected by the law, namely:

• having electronic communication policies in the workplace addressing internet use, social networking activity and email,
• monitoring use of the employer’s information systems and networks,
• using information that is publicly available on the Internet, although as noted in prior posts there may be other risks to employers engaging in these activities, such as under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.