The Nebraska Legislature recently passed the Workplace Privacy Act (WPA), which goes into effect on July 19, 2016.  Here is what employers need to know:

  • The Workplace Privacy Act prohibits employers from requiring access to employees’ personal internet accounts and from taking adverse action against any employee or job applicant for refusing to grant an employer such access.
  • The employee protections include:
  1. Asking an employee or a job applicant to log into any of their internet accounts to allow the employer to scroll through and observe the content of those accounts.
  2. Prohibiting an employer from asking current or prospective employees to give the employer their user names and passwords for personal internet accounts.
  3. Forcing an employee or applicant to add the employer or anyone associated with the employer to any of their internet accounts.
  • Protections afforded to employers include:
  1. Allowing an employer to maintain policies regarding the use of the employer’s electronic equipment for personal internet use.
  2. Prohibiting an employee from downloading or transferring the employer’s proprietary or financial data to a personal internet account.
  3. Allowing an employer to ask or require an employee to give the employer access to information that is held on an employer owned electronic communication which the employer supplied to the employee.

Businesses or employees with further questions or concerns about this legislation can contact Knudsen Law Firm at (402) 475-7011.

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