AK HB284

Employers are prohibited from requesting, requiring, or compelling employees and job applicants to disclose usernames, passwords, or other authentication credentials for personal social media accounts.

Employers cannot require employees or applicants to provide access to personal social media accounts, view those accounts in the employee's presence, add contacts, or change privacy settings.

Employers may not discipline or penalize employees or applicants for refusing to comply with prohibited social media access requests.

Employers may obtain publicly available information about employees or applicants, and may request specific reported data if necessary for legal compliance or investigating allegations of proprietary information theft or workplace harassment.

Violating employers are liable for actual damages including mental pain and suffering, equitable relief, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees; the law applies to contracts entered into after the effective date.