TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Have employers ever asked for your social media passwords? One Florida bill is looking at making that illegal.
Jeff Clemons, a democrat from Lake Worth, introduced the bill at a subcommittee hearing Monday afternoon.
Senate Bill 186 would prohibit an employer from requesting and requiring access to an employee's social media accounts. The bill also says employees cannot take an retaliatory action for an employee's refusal to allow access.
Clemons says lawmakers typically come to Tallahassee to reduce mandates on businesses, but this does the opposite, for what he says, is a good reason: "You might ask yourself why we have a bill that asks businesses to specifically not do something, and I think the answer is in some very rare occasions we're forced to kind of choose between whether or not we want to do whats right for the business organization or whats right for the individual."
The bill would place several mandates on the employer making it illegal for them to fire or refuse to hire someone because they do not have access to that prospective employee's social media.
The bill passed a committee Monday afternoon and would be brought up during the 2016 legislative session.
