Florida Senate - 2016                                     SB 186
       
       
        
       By Senator Clemens
       
       
       
       
       
       27-00288-16                                            2016186__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to social media privacy; creating s.
    3         448.077, F.S.; defining terms; prohibiting an employer
    4         from requesting or requiring access to a social media
    5         account of an employee or prospective employee;
    6         prohibiting an employer from taking retaliatory
    7         personnel action against an employee as a result of
    8         the employee’s refusal to allow access to his or her
    9         social media account; prohibiting an employer from
   10         failing or refusing to hire a prospective employee as
   11         a result of the prospective employee’s refusal to
   12         allow access to his or her social media account;
   13         authorizing civil action for a violation; requiring
   14         that the civil action be brought within a specified
   15         timeframe; providing a penalty for a violation;
   16         providing for recovery of attorney fees and court
   17         costs; specifying that an employer is not prohibited
   18         from seeking access to social media accounts used
   19         primarily for the employer’s business purposes;
   20         providing an effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 448.077, Florida Statutes, is created to
   25  read:
   26         448.077 Employer access to employee social media accounts
   27  prohibited.—
   28         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   29         (a) “Retaliatory personnel action” has the same meaning as
   30  in s. 448.101.
   31         (b) “Social media account” means an interactive personal
   32  account or profile that an individual establishes and uses
   33  through an electronic application, service, or platform to
   34  generate or to store content, including, but not limited to,
   35  videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, instant messages,
   36  audio recordings, and e-mail.
   37         (2) An employer may not do any of the following:
   38         (a) Request or require an employee or prospective employee
   39  to take an action that allows the employer to gain access to the
   40  employee’s or prospective employee’s social media account,
   41  including, but not limited to, requesting him or her to disclose
   42  the username, password, or other means of accessing his or her
   43  social media account if the social media account’s contents are
   44  not available to the general public.
   45         (b) Take retaliatory personnel action against an employee
   46  as a result of the employee’s refusal to allow the employer
   47  access to the employee’s social media account.
   48         (c) Fail or refuse to hire a prospective employee as a
   49  result of the prospective employee’s refusal to allow the
   50  employer access to the prospective employee’s social media
   51  account.
   52         (3) An employee or prospective employee may bring a civil
   53  action against an employer who violates this section in a court
   54  located in the county in which the employee or prospective
   55  employee resides or where the alleged violation occurred. Such
   56  action must be brought within 2 years after the violation
   57  occurred. The employee or prospective employee may seek
   58  injunctive relief to restrain the employer from continuing to
   59  act in violation of this section and may recover damages in an
   60  amount equal to the actual damages arising from the violation or
   61  $500 per violation, whichever is greater. An employee or
   62  prospective employee who prevails is entitled to recover court
   63  costs and reasonable attorney fees.
   64         (4) This section does not prevent an employer from
   65  requesting or requiring an employee to disclose a username,
   66  password, or other means of accessing a social media account
   67  used primarily for the employer’s business purposes.
   68         (5) This section does not prohibit or restrict an employer
   69  from complying with a duty to monitor or retain employee
   70  communications which is established under state or federal law
   71  or by a self-regulatory organization as defined in s. 3(a)(26)
   72  of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. s. 78c(a)(26),
   73  or from screening a prospective employee who completes an
   74  application for employment at a law enforcement or prosecutorial
   75  agency or an employee who is the subject of a conduct
   76  investigation performed by a law enforcement or prosecutorial
   77  agency.
   78         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2016.