Florida Senate - 2014                       CS for CS for SB 198
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
       and Commerce and Tourism; and Senators Clemens and Latvala
       
       
       
       
       585-02539-14                                           2014198c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to social media privacy; creating s.
    3         448.077, F.S.; providing definitions; prohibiting an
    4         employer from requesting or requiring access to a
    5         social media account of an employee or prospective
    6         employee; prohibiting an employer from taking
    7         retaliatory personnel action for an employee’s failure
    8         to provide access to his or her social media account;
    9         prohibiting an employer from failing or refusing to
   10         hire a prospective employee who does not provide
   11         access to his or her social media account; authorizing
   12         civil actions for violations; providing for recovery
   13         of attorney fees and court costs; specifying that an
   14         employer is not prohibited from seeking access to
   15         social media accounts under certain circumstances;
   16         providing an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Section 448.077, Florida Statutes, is created to
   21  read:
   22         448.077 Employer access to employee social media accounts
   23  prohibited.—
   24         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   25         (a) “Electronic communications device” means a device that
   26  uses electronic signals to create, transmit, or receive
   27  information, including computers, telephones, personal digital
   28  assistants, and other similar devices.
   29         (b) “Retaliatory personnel action” has the same meaning as
   30  in s. 448.101.
   31         (c) “Social media account” means an interactive personal
   32  account or profile that an individual establishes and uses
   33  through an electronic application, service, or platform used to
   34  generate or store content, including, but not limited to,
   35  videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, instant messages,
   36  audio recordings, or e-mail that is not available to the general
   37  public.
   38         (2) An employer may not do any of the following:
   39         (a) Request or require an employee or prospective employee
   40  to disclose a username, password, or other means of accessing a
   41  social media account through an electronic communications
   42  device.
   43         (b) Request or require an employee or prospective employee
   44  to take an action that allows the employer to gain access to the
   45  employee’s or prospective employee’s social media account if the
   46  account’s contents are not available to the general public.
   47         (c) Take retaliatory personnel action against an employee
   48  for refusing to give the employer access to the employee’s
   49  social media account.
   50         (d) Fail or refuse to hire a prospective employee as a
   51  result of the prospective employee’s refusal to allow the
   52  employer access to the prospective employee’s social media
   53  account.
   54         (3) An employee or prospective employee may bring a civil
   55  action against an employer who violates this section in a court
   56  located in the county in which the employee or prospective
   57  employee resides or where the alleged violation occurred. Such
   58  action must be brought within 2 years after the violation
   59  occurred. The employee or prospective employee may seek
   60  injunctive relief to restrain the employer from continuing to
   61  act in violation of this section and may recover damages in an
   62  amount equal to the actual damages arising from the violation or
   63  $500 per violation, whichever is greater. An employee or
   64  prospective employee who prevails is entitled to recover court
   65  costs and reasonable attorney fees.
   66         (4) This section does not prevent an employer from
   67  requesting or requiring an employee to disclose a username,
   68  password, or other means of accessing a social media account
   69  used for business purposes.
   70         (5) This section does not prohibit or restrict an employer
   71  from complying with a duty to monitor or retain employee
   72  communications which is established under state or federal law
   73  or by a self-regulatory organization, as defined in the
   74  Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. s. 78c(a)(26), or
   75  from screening a prospective employee who completes an
   76  application for employment at a law enforcement agency or an
   77  employee who is the subject of a conduct investigation performed
   78  by a law enforcement agency.
   79         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2014.