Social Media Privacy Law Essay

One day in 2003, employees went to work in New Jersey with new social media privacy laws. The new law set in place regulated how much an employer could monitor an employee’s social media accounts. Employers in New Jersey were able to ask for social media passwords to access their employee’s social media accounts. The new law mandated that employers could not do this anymore. When the new law occurred it was the 12th state at the time to implement a social media privacy law in the workplace. The vice president of New Jersey Business and Industry Association says the laws help employees just as much as it helps employers. Social media in the workplace from the business perspective can be great, but ground rules should be set so all employees understand what is right from wrong. When I read this …show more content…
Employers can be fined up to $1,000 for the first offense of obtaining a potential or a current employee’s social media password and will obtain a $2,500 for each additional violation (George). Employers still have the right in New Jersey to view any public information on social media accounts. Therefore, employees need to understand that it is not okay to post whatever they want and think they will not get fired because of the law that was implemented. Employers also have the right to investigate information that may be caused by workplace misconduct or the unauthorized transfer of a company's proprietary information (George). Every employer needs to focus on their own social media accounts as well. It would be important that the password stays confidential and is only accessed by the appropriate individuals who work with social media at the job. From the business perspective employers need to be careful what they post on their own social media and it is important that they keep up to date on the laws and regulations that may be implemented in the state they work