Maryland employer access to personal accounts (User Name and Password Privacy Protection)
MD Social Media Password Law
Employees
Maryland bars employers from asking employees or job applicants for usernames, passwords, or other access to their personal online accounts, and from punishing or refusing to hire anyone who declines. Employers may still require credentials for company systems and may investigate securities-law compliance or leaks of proprietary data.
- Where
- Maryland
- Citation
- Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-712
- Status
- In force
- Enforced by
- Commissioner of Labor and Industry; Attorney General may sue on the employee's or applicant's behalf (3-712(f))
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- The Commissioner mediates or refers to the Attorney General, who may seek injunctive relief, damages, or other relief (3-712(f)).
- Applies to
- Employers engaged in business in Maryland and state and local government units, including their agents, with respect to employees and applicants (3-712(a)(4))
Practices it requires
- Do not request or require an employee or applicant to disclose a username, password, or other means of accessing a personal account or service.Lab. & Empl. 3-712(b)(1) · Only if: Employers may require credentials for nonpersonal accounts that access the employer's internal systems (3-712(b)(2))
- Do not discipline, discharge, threaten, or refuse to hire anyone for refusing to disclose personal account credentials.Lab. & Empl. 3-712(c)
Sources
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Enactment (2012 session) and effective date not verified; the short name used here is descriptive, not statutory.
Research reference, not legal advice.