Social media accounts of current and prospective employees
VA employer social media
Employees
Bars employers from requiring current or prospective employees to disclose personal social media usernames and passwords or to add a supervisor or co-worker as a contact, and from retaliating against those who refuse. Employers may view public information and may request credentials for formal misconduct investigations.
- Where
- Virginia
- Citation
- Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:5
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2015-07-01
- Enforced by
- Not stated in the section
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- The section sets no specific penalty or remedy.
- Applies to
- Private employers plus state and local government units and their agents (40.1-28.7:5(A))
Practices it requires
- Do not require disclosure of a personal social media username and password, or adding an employee, supervisor, or administrator as a contact.Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:5(B)
- Do not use inadvertently obtained social media login information to access an employee's account.Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:5(C)
- Do not discipline, threaten, or refuse to hire anyone for exercising these rights.Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:5(D)
Other duties
- Credentials requested for a formal investigation of legal or policy violations may be used only for that investigation.Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:5(F)(2)
Sources
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Effective date inferred from Virginia's default July 1 effective date for regular-session acts; enacting bill page not checked. History: 2015, c. 576. No express remedy found in the section; private enforcement was not researched.
Research reference, not legal advice.