50-State Surveys / Employer Access to Employee Personal Social Media Accounts / New Jersey

Employer Access to Employee Personal Social Media Accounts in New Jersey

Short answer New Jersey bars employers from requesting a current or prospective employee's user name, password, or other access to a personal social networking account. The law protects refusal and permits specified investigations based on particular information, while preserving work-account policies and public information. Violations carry commissioner-collected civil penalties.
State
New Jersey
Statute checked
October 17, 2026
Sources
6 statutes
Survey
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At a glance

Governing law and covered accountsN.J.S.A. §§ 34:6B-5–10; a personal account is a social-networking profile used exclusively for personal communications unrelated to the employer's business (§ 34:6B-5).
Covered employers, employees, and applicantsCurrent and prospective employees are covered; employer includes agents but excludes corrections, parole, and state or local law-enforcement agencies (§§ 34:6B-5–6).
Credential and observed-access demandsEmployer may not request a user name, password, or access to a personal account through an electronic communications device; this reaches an access demand beyond credentials (§ 34:6B-6).
Contact and privacy-setting demands§ 34:6B-6 addresses credentials and account access; it does not separately enumerate a forced contact or privacy-setting change.
Refusal, retaliation, and hiringRetaliation or discrimination for refusal, reporting, participation, or opposition is barred; a waiver tied to applying or an offer is void (§§ 34:6B-7–8).
Investigation and specific-content routeInvestigation is preserved after specific information about account activity tied to compliance or misconduct, or an unauthorized transfer of employer data (§ 34:6B-10(c)).
Employer accounts, public content, and regulated workWork-device/account policies, legal and self-regulatory compliance, and public-domain information are preserved (§ 34:6B-10(a), (b), (d)).
Inadvertently received credentials and use§ 34:6B-6 prohibits employer requests for credentials or access; § 34:6B-10 preserves the listed compliance, work-account, investigation, and public-information activities.
Enforcement and remediesCommissioner collects civil penalties up to $1,000 for a first violation and $2,500 for each later one in a summary proceeding (§ 34:6B-9).

Requirements one by one

Personal accounts and access

N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-5 defines a personal account as one used “exclusively for personal communications unrelated to any business purposes of the employer.” Section 34:6B-6 prohibits requests for a user name or password and requests that an employee or applicant otherwise provide account access through an electronic communications device.

Refusal and employment terms

N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-8 protects someone who refuses access, reports a violation, participates in a proceeding, or opposes a violation. N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-7 makes an agreement waiving the act's protections void and unenforceable.

Investigation and penalty

N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-10(c) preserves an investigation based on specific information about personal-account activity relevant to compliance or work-related misconduct, or about unauthorized transfer of employer data. Section 34:6B-9 lets the Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner collect up to $1,000 for a first violation and $2,500 for each later violation.

What trips people up

  • An investigation needs specific information. The two statutory routes in § 34:6B-10(c) begin with information already received; the section does not itself create a general credential demand.
  • Business use changes the definition. Under § 34:6B-5, an account used for the employer's business or business communications falls outside the defined personal account.

Common questions

May an employer view a public profile? Yes. N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-10(d) preserves information obtainable in the public domain.

Does the rule apply to a police department? Section 34:6B-5 excludes State and local law-enforcement agencies, corrections departments, and the State Parole Board from its definition of employer.

Can an employer set policies for its own accounts? Section 34:6B-10(b) preserves policies for employer-issued devices and employer-provided or business-use accounts and services.

Statutes and sources

Source links

Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.

N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-5 · accessed 2026-10-17
N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-6 · accessed 2026-10-17
N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-7 · accessed 2026-10-17
N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-8 · accessed 2026-10-17
N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-9 · accessed 2026-10-17
N.J.S.A. § 34:6B-10 · accessed 2026-10-17
This page summarizes state-law limits on employer access to personal social media accounts. Other employment, privacy, federal, and workplace rules may apply to a particular account or investigation; this is general information, not legal advice.

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