Recently, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) signed a bill that limits employer access to the personal social media accounts of employees and job applicants.  The law, which takes effect on July 1, 2015 prohibits employers in Virginia from requiring, requesting, or causing a current or prospective employee to disclose the username and password to the individual’s social media account.  Additionally, the law also prohibits employers from requiring an employee to add another employee, a supervisor, or an administrator to the list or contacts associated with the individual’s social media account or changing the privacy settings.  We have prepared a detailed article discussing the new law.

In 2012, Maryland was the first state to prohibit employers from demanding social media passwords.  In a trend that is likely to continue, Virginia now becomes the 19th state to implement a workplace social media password privacy law.