Maryland's Division of Corrections (DOC) has suspended its policy that requested applicants "voluntarily" provide their Facebook user name and password as part of a background check. According to the Washington Post, the policy was approximately a year old.
For the overwhelming majority of jobs in the public and private sector employers should not request/demand an applicant's and/or employee's social media user names and/or passwords. Therefore, I would generally advise against management and/or a union asking their employees and/or applicants and/or members to provide their personal social media account user names and/or passwords.
To learn more about the legal ramifications of social media policies you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.
Copyright 2011 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
