Employer Access to Personal Social Media Accounts Prohibited

NJ Social Media Privacy (Employment) Law

Employees

New Jersey employers may not require or ask current or prospective employees to hand over usernames or passwords, or otherwise give access, to their personal social media accounts. Employers also may not retaliate against people who refuse or who report or oppose violations.

Where: New Jersey
Citation: N.J.S.A. 34:6B-5 to 34:6B-10; P.L.2013, c.155 (A2878)
Status: In force
In force since: 2013-12-01
Enforced by: New Jersey Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development
People can sue: No
Penalties: Civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first violation and $2,500 for each subsequent violation, collected by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development in a summary proceeding (34:6B-9).
Applies to: Employers and their agents, representatives, or designees dealing with current or prospective employees; the Department of Corrections, State Parole Board, county corrections departments, and State or local law enforcement agencies are excluded (34:6B-5)
Covers personal accounts on social networking websites used exclusively for personal communications unrelated to the employer's business (34:6B-5)

Practices it requires

Do not require or request that a current or prospective employee provide or disclose a username or password, or otherwise provide access to a personal social networking account.N.J.S.A. 34:6B-6
Do not retaliate or discriminate against an individual who refuses access, reports a violation to the Commissioner, participates in an investigation, or otherwise opposes a violation.N.J.S.A. 34:6B-8

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: N.J.S.A. 34:6B-7 (waiver void) and 34:6B-10 (employer rights preserved, such as investigating work-related misconduct) were not retrieved from the database.

Research reference, not legal advice.