4th Session, 61st General Assembly
Nova Scotia
61 Elizabeth II, 2012
Andrew Younger
Dartmouth East
First Reading: April 23, 2012
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
Clause 1 prohibits an employer from
(a) requiring, as a condition of employment or continued employment, the means to access, or access to, a person's account on a social networking website; or
(b) discriminating against a person for refusing to give the employer the means to access, or access to, the person's account on a social networking website.
Clause 2 permits a person who has reasonable grounds to believe that he or she has been discriminated against for refusing to give the employer the means to access, or access to, the person's account on a social networking website to make a complaint to the Director of Labour Standards.
1 Chapter 246 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Labour Standards Code, is amended by adding immediately after Section 29 the following Section:
(2) An employer shall not
(a) require, directly or indirectly, as a condition of employment or continued employment, that any person submit any password or other related account information for the purpose of gaining access to the person's account or profile on a social networking website; or
(b) demand, as a condition of employment or continued employment, access in any manner to a person's account or profile on a social networking website.
(3) An employer shall not discharge, lay off, suspend, intimidate, penalize, discipline or discriminate in any other manner against any person because that person has refused to comply with a request prohibited under subsection (2).
(4) For greater certainty, nothing in subsection (2) prohibits an employer from obtaining information about a person that is in the public domain or that is otherwise obtained in compliance with this Act.
2 Subsection 31(1) of Chapter 246, is amended by adding ", Section 29A" immediately after "29" in the third line.