Workplace Privacy Act
Nebraska Workplace Privacy Act
Employees
This social media password law bars employers from demanding access to employees' or applicants' personal online accounts, making them log in in front of the employer, forcing them to add the employer as a contact or change privacy settings, or retaliating for refusals. Employers keep rights over their own devices, accounts, and networks and may investigate specific misconduct.
- Where
- Nebraska
- Citation
- Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3501 to 48-3511
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2016-07-21
- Last amended
- 2018-07-19
- Enforced by
- Courts (private civil action by employees and applicants)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Aggrieved employees or applicants may sue in district court within one year of the violation or its discovery for injunctive relief, general and special damages, attorney's fees, and costs (48-3511).
- Applies to
- Employers in Nebraska, as to employees' and applicants' personal Internet accounts (48-3503)
- Employees, as to unauthorized transfer of employer proprietary or financial data to personal accounts (48-3506)
Practices it requires
- Do not require or request an employee's or applicant's username, password, or other access information for a personal Internet account.Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3503(1)
- Do not require an employee or applicant to log into a personal account in the employer's presence, add anyone to contacts, or change privacy settings.Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3503(2)-(3)
- Do not take adverse action against, refuse to hire, or penalize anyone for refusing such requests, and do not retaliate for complaints or participation in investigations.Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3503(4); 48-3505
- Do not require employees or applicants to waive rights under the act; such waivers are void.Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3504
Security duties
- If personal-account credentials are inadvertently captured by lawful network monitoring, do not use or share them and delete them as soon as practicable.Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3510
Sources
- Official text
- Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3501 (Nebraska Legislature)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3503 (Nebraska Legislature)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-3511 (Nebraska Legislature)
- Revisor cross-reference table of effective dates, 2016 session (LB821: July 21, 2016)
- Revisor cross-reference table of effective dates, 2018 session (LB193 other sections: July 19, 2018)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Research reference, not legal advice.