Bill Text: IL HB1047 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Amends provisions of the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act prohibiting certain inquiries by an employer. Deletes language in those provisions regarding an employee's social networking website account information. Provides that: an employer may not request or require an employee or prospective employee to provide a user name, password, or other means to gain access to the employee's or prospective employee's personal online account; an employer may request or require an employee to disclose any user name, password, or other means for accessing an electronic communications device supplied or paid for in whole or in part by the employer or accounts or services provided by the employer or by virtue of the employee's employment relationship with the employer or that the employee uses for business purposes; an employer may not discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize or threaten to discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize an employee solely for an employee's refusal to disclose specified information, fail or refuse to hire any prospective employee as a result of the prospective employee's refusal to disclose specified information, or be held liable for failure to request or require that an employee or prospective employee disclose specified information; those provisions do not prevent an employer from conducting certain investigations; the provisions do not limit an employer's right to have specified workplace policies and monitor usage of the employer's electronic equipment and electronic mail under specified circumstances; and those provisions do not prohibit an employer from obtaining information about a prospective employee or an employee that is in the public domain or that is otherwise obtained in compliance with the provisions. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)

Status: (Failed) 2014-12-03 - Session Sine Die [HB1047 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HB1047-Amended.html

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Rep. Jim Durkin

Filed: 4/12/2013

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1047
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1047, AS AMENDED, by
replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
following:
"Section 5. The Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act is
amended by changing Section 10 as follows:
(820 ILCS 55/10) (from Ch. 48, par. 2860)
Sec. 10. Prohibited inquiries.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any employer to inquire, in a
written application or in any other manner, of any prospective
employee or of the prospective employee's previous employers,
whether that prospective employee has ever filed a claim for
benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act or Workers'
Occupational Diseases Act or received benefits under these
Acts.
(b)(1) It shall be unlawful for any employer to request or

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require any employee or prospective employee to provide any
user name and password, password, or other means of
authentication related account information in order to gain
access to the employee's or prospective employee's account or
profile on a social networking website or to demand access in
any manner to an employee's or prospective employee's personal
internet account or profile on a social networking website.
(2) An employer may request or require an employee to
disclose any user name and password, password, or other means
of authentication for accessing any accounts or services
provided by the employer or by virtue of the employee's
employment relationship with the employer or that the employee
uses for business purposes.
(3) An employer may not:
(A) discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize or
threaten to discharge, discipline, or otherwise penalize
an employee for an employee's refusal to disclose any
information specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection
(b);
(B) fail or refuse to hire any prospective employee as
a result of the prospective employee's refusal to disclose
any information specified in paragraph (1) of this
subsection (b); or
(C) be held liable for failing to request or require
that an employee or prospective employee disclose any
information specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection

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(b).
(4) Nothing in this subsection shall prevent an employer
from conducting an investigation:
(A) for the purpose of ensuring or investigating past
compliance with applicable laws, regulatory requirements,
or prohibitions against work-related employee misconduct
if the employer has specific information about activity in
a personal internet account by an employee or other source;
(B) for the purpose of investigating violations of
applicable laws, regulatory requirements, or prohibitions
against work-related employee misconduct if the employer
has specific information about activity in a personal
internet account by an employee;
(C) for the purpose of protecting the security or
integrity of the employer's computers, devices, networks,
or data if the employer has specific information about
activity in or through the personal internet account of an
employee that has compromised or may compromise the
security or integrity of the employer's computers,
devices, networks, or data; or
(D) if the employer has specific information about the
unauthorized transfer of an employer's proprietary
information, confidential information, or financial data
to a personal internet account of an employee or someone
acting in concert with an employee.
Conducting an investigation as specified in subparagraphs

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(A), (B), (C), and (D) of this paragraph (4) may include
requiring the employee's cooperation to share information
relevant to making a factual determination concerning the
matter being investigated including, if relevant, access and
information pertaining to the employee's personal internet
accounts.
(5) (2) Nothing in this subsection shall limit an
employer's right to:
(A) promulgate and maintain lawful workplace policies
governing the use of the employer's electronic equipment,
including policies regarding Internet use, social
networking site use, and electronic mail use; and
(B) monitor, or require an employee's consent to
monitor, usage of the employer's computers, devices,
network, or data; provided, however, that while engaging in
such monitoring, an employer may not request or require any
employee or prospective employee to access the employee's
or prospective employee's personal internet account for
purposes of enabling the employer to observe activity in or
the contents of such an account; and provided further that
an employer undertaking such monitoring may not request or
require electronic equipment and the employer's electronic
mail without requesting or requiring any employee or
prospective employee to provide any user name and password,
password, or other means of authentication related account
information in order to gain access to the employee's or

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prospective employee's personal internet account; and or
profile on a social networking website.
(C) take such actions as may be necessary to comply
with the requirements of State or Federal statutes, rules
or regulations, case law, or rules of self-regulatory
organizations.
(6) (3) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit an
employer from obtaining about a prospective employee or an
employee information that is in the public domain or that is
otherwise obtained in compliance with this amendatory Act of
the 97th General Assembly.
(7) (4) For the purposes of this subsection: ,
(A) "Prospective employee" means an applicant for
employment.
(B) "Employer" means a person engaged in a business,
industry, profession, trade, or other enterprise in this
State, or any unit of State or local government. "Employer"
includes any agent, representative, or designee of the
employer.
(C) "Personal internet account" means an account
created via bounded system established by an
internet-based service that requires a user to input or
store access information via an electronic device to view,
create, utilize, or edit the user's account information,
profile, display, communications, or stored data.
"Personal internet account" does not include an account

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provided by the employer, obtained by virtue of the
employee's employment relationship with the employer, or
used for the employer's business purposes.
"social networking website" means an Internet-based
service that allows individuals to:
(A) construct a public or semi-public profile within a
bounded system, created by the service;
(B) create a list of other users with whom they share a
connection within the system; and
(C) view and navigate their list of connections and
those made by others within the system.
"Social networking website" shall not include electronic
mail.
(Source: P.A. 97-875, eff. 1-1-13.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".