Most people think Facebook or LinkedIn passwords are confidential. But employers do not always agree. Increasingly, employers are asking for employees’ or job applicants’ social-network passwords, which is a hard request to refuse. In a pushback against invasions of privacy, Congress and state legislatures are proposing and passing legislation to prevent the invasion of personal social-network sites by employers and potential employers.
Why should it be illegal for employers and universities to review the private content of social-media Web sites? Because employment and educational decisions can be tainted by knowledge of a person’s protected status, particularly for applicants. An employer or school may not know an applicant’s age, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation unless they are able to examine the private information on a social-media Web site. Current employees or students may not want their employers to know about interracial dating habits, religious or political beliefs, or support for diversity. The National Labor Relations Board has held that employers even in nonunionized workplaces may not discipline employees who use social-media to discuss or protest workplace issues. For government employees, their social-media Web sites may have First Amendment protected speech, which cannot form the basis for discipline.
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