Labor and Employment - New Michigan Law Bans Employer Requests For Access To Employees’ and Job Applicants’ Personal Internet Accounts

January 3, 2013

In this issue:

New Michigan Law Bans Employer Requests For Access To Employees' and Job Applicants' Personal Internet Accounts

Governor Snyder, on December 28, 2012, signed the Internet Privacy Protection Act, which takes effect immediately. The Internet Privacy Protection Act addresses a concern that employers may be demanding that job applicants and employees furnish their passwords to social media sites. Although a small number of employers have made that kind of demand, most employers have not been doing it. Even one of the sponsors of the Act, Representative Aric Nesbitt, according to Crain's Detroit Business, acknowledged that the impetus for the legislation stemmed from some of his constituents who had "heard" about this practice allegedly occurring in other states and asked him to prevent it from occurring in Michigan.

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