States mandate protection of employee data
June 17, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Regulations & Compliance
It’s a new trend in state law: mandatory data protection policies.
Connecticut recently passed such a law, becoming the second state (after Michigan) to do so.
What does the new rule require? All employers must:
- create and post policy regarding social security numbers (the law doesn’t say what the policy needs to contain — just that it must keep social security data confidential and limit access to employees’ SSNs)
- safeguard against the misuse of “personal information” by third parties, and
- destroy personal info once it’s no longer needed and properly erase and dispose of electronic storage media that the company gets rid of.
Companies can be fined up to $5,000 dollars for intentional violations — those that they break the law unintentionally seem to be off the hook.
We’ll keep you posted as more states consider similar bills.
Tags: Connecticut, employee data, Security, SSN
