10/18/2023

New York Can No Longer Access Workers’ Private Social Media

Many privacy advocates are heralding this decision

Employers across New York state can no longer access private social media accounts of their workers or job applicants, thanks to a new law Gov. Kathy Hochul signed last month.

The legislation, brought by State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D- Queens) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-the Bronx) in their respective chambers, amends the state labor law to prohibit employers from accessing a worker's or applicant's private social media accounts.

As written, the law includes a number of carve-outs related to things like certain types of employees, such as police, accessing information that's publicly available on a given website, or having access to employees' login information for the businesses' system.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Governing.