HB1739.DOC

SECTION 1. Section 378-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Personal account" means an account, service, or profile on a social networking website that is used by an employee or potential employee exclusively for personal communications unrelated to any business purposes of the employer."

SECTION 2. Chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§378- Employer access to employee or potential employee personal accounts prohibited. (a) An employer shall not require, request, or coerce an employee or potential employee to do any of the following:

(1) Disclose the username, password, or any other information for the purpose of accessing the employee or potential employee's personal account;

(2) Access the employee or potential employee's personal account in the presence of the employer; or

(3) Add anyone, including the employer, to their list of contacts associated with a personal account.

(b) Nothing in this section shall prevent an employer from:

(1) Accessing information about an employee or potential employee that is publicly available;

(2) Complying with applicable laws, rules, or regulations;

(3) Requesting the employee to share specific content regarding a personal account for the purposes of conducting an investigation of allegations of employee misconduct under chapter 378;

(4) Requiring an employee to disclose the username or password for the purpose of accessing an employer-issued electronic device; or

(5) Prohibiting an employee or potential employee from using a personal account during employment hours, while on employer time, or for business purposes.

(c) If an employer inadvertently receives the username, password, or any other information that would enable the employer to gain access to the employee or potential employee's personal account through the use of an otherwise lawful virus scan or firewall that monitors the employer's network or employer-provided devices, then the employer is not liable for having that information, unless the employer:

(1) Shares that information with anyone;

(2) Uses that information to access the employee or potential employee's personal account; or

(3) Does not delete the information as soon as reasonably practicable."

SECTION 3. Section 378-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:

(1) Because of race, sex including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, color, ancestry, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, or domestic or sexual violence victim status if the domestic or sexual violence victim provides notice to the victim's employer of such status or the employer has actual knowledge of such status:

(A) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment;

(B) For any employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or to classify or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual;

(C) For any employer or employment agency to print, circulate, or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination;

(D) For any labor organization to exclude or expel from its membership any individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members, employer, or employees; or

(E) For any employer or labor organization to refuse to enter into an apprenticeship agreement as defined in section 372-2; provided that no apprentice shall be younger than sixteen years of age;

(2) For any employer, labor organization, or employment agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against any individual because the individual has opposed any practice forbidden by this part or has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding respecting the discriminatory practices prohibited under this part;

(3) For any person, whether an employer, employee, or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any of the discriminatory practices forbidden by this part, or to attempt to do so;

(4) For any employer to violate the provisions of section 121-43 relating to nonforfeiture for absence by members of the national guard;

(5) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or discharge from employment any individual because of assignment of income for the purpose of satisfying the individual's child support obligations as provided for under section 571-52;

(6) For any employer, labor organization, or employment agency to exclude or otherwise deny equal jobs or benefits to a qualified individual because of the known disability of an individual with whom the qualified individual is known to have a relationship or association;

(7) For any employer or labor organization to refuse to hire or employ, bar or discharge from employment, withhold pay from, demote, or penalize a lactating employee because the employee breastfeeds or expresses milk at the workplace. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "breastfeeds" means the feeding of a child directly from the breast;

(8) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ, bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of any individual because of the individual's credit history or credit report, unless the information in the individual's credit history or credit report directly relates to a bona fide occupational qualification under section 378-3(2); [or]

(9) For any employer to discriminate against any individual employed as a domestic, in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the individual's race, sex including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, color, ancestry, disability, or marital status[.]; or

(10) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ, bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of any individual because of the individual's refusal to disclose any information regarding a personal account according to section 378- (a)."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1739
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII