Dive Brief:
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has signed a bill that will prohibit employers from requiring current or prospective employees to have a personal social media account as a condition of employment.
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Oregon appears to be the first state with this type of employer restriction, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2016. The law also will bar employers from requiring that workers allow advertising on their personal social media sites.
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Peggy Boquist, the wife of bill sponsor Sen. Brian Boquist (R), told a Senate panel in February that a sporting goods store declined to interview one of her friends, a Navy veteran, because he wouldn't open a Facebook account.
Dive Insight:
This may be a solution to a very rare problem. One legal expert, Philip L. Gordon, a shareholder at Littler Mendelson PC in Denver told Bloomberg BNA that he believed the bill was unnecessary. He noted that he works with dozens of employers on social media issues, and he has not had one of them require employees to open social media accounts as a way to promote a business.