ST. PAUL -- What would you do if an employer asked you to give them your Twitter or Facebook password? In more than two dozen other states, you could sue — because that would be illegal.
Here in Minnesota, however, there is no such law prohibiting employers from demanding password access to social media accounts.
Not yet, at least.
A handful of state lawmakers in both chambers have attached their names to proposals that would ban employers from asking for passwords either during or after a job search. The two companion bills, which have been churning through committees in the House and Senate this year, would also make it illegal for employers to make you show them your private account even without relinquishing a password. The bills would also prevent employers from requiring you to accept their friend requests against your wishes.
"This bill is something that is needed in the digital age," DFL Rep. Jon Lesch, the House sponsor, said earlier this month. "We should not be allowing employers into our private lives that way."
There are some exceptions written into the language of the bill. For example, an employer could ask for account access to investigate a claim of workplace harassment.
In most instances, though, employers would be barred from having any access to employees' private accounts.
Paul DeBettignies, an IT job recruiter who runs Minnesota Headhunter, LLC., said the proposal makes sense as a proactive measure.
"It might be hard for a candidate to say, no, I won't give you access to my social media accounts if it means I won't get the job, because I need a job," DeBettignies said. "If we can protect employees, or prospective employees, then OK. I can understand that."
However, DeBettignies also questioned the need for a state law because he's never heard of a local company demanding password information or account access.
"I have a belief," DeBettignies said, "that if this was going on in Minneapolis/St. Paul, we would know about it in 2.2 seconds."
No lawsuits have been brought in Minnesota over employer password access (although there was a high-profile case involving a student and a school), and when KARE 11 asked its 343,000 Twitter followers for any experiences, nobody shared any.
In other states, however, there have been documented instances -- including a case involving a state corrections worker in Maryland. That case and subsequent ACLU lawsuit led Maryland to pass the first law in the nation preventing employers from accessing social media accounts. Twenty-five other states then followed.
So now Minnesota is again considering its own version of the law.
It's unclear when the full House and Senate might be able to vote on the respective proposals, but remember — even if this does pass, an employer could still snoop on your public social media pages and see anything you've ever posted.
DeBettignies has some simple advice for that: Search yourself on Google.
"And find out what employers or recruiters are going to find about me online," he said.