BB&K In The News

BB&K's Cynthia Germano Outlines the Important Changes for 2013

In a couple of days, 2013 will be upon us and new workplace laws involving pregnancy leave, religious discrimination and social media websites, among others, will take effect. Here are some of the more significant changes impacting business owners.

In the area of social media, a new law effective Jan. 1 prohibits employers from requiring or even requesting that an employee or job applicant disclose a username or password for Facebook or any social media website. The one exception is when an employer reasonably believes that the site is relevant to an investigation of employee misconduct or a violation of law. Even in that case, however, an employer can only request access to the social media and can only access the site if the request is granted by the employee.

To the extent that employers have been using social media to conduct background investigations or otherwise “monitor” employee conduct, they can still access publicly shared information on social media sites.

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