Revised question - My boss has asked for our passwords at work. Is this legal?

Technically, I work for a university. The computer nor the phone belongs to my supervisor. And he never gave us passwords to the phones or computers. My supervisor says when we're gone he wants to be able to access things. So, is it still legal although he doesn't own the company, he's just a supervisor? Can he still demand access to our individual passwords to both our computer and voicemails at work? I don't trust him. I don't have anything to hide. But, just the idea. Why do we have passwords if everyone can have access? Anyone knows the legality of this?

If you are using a work computer, doesn't the IT person have a master P/W to override an employee's if necessary?

Same for the phone. If you didn't give them the P/W and left unexpectedly their IT guy can override your low level P/W and zero it out.

I don't think your super should be taking the P/Words of the office staff. I would complain about that first to him and then request a conference with him and his boss.

Keep your resume current.

It's not illegal. You have no expectation of privacy on your work phone or computer. It is your supervisor's job to be on top of things and there is no reason not to give him the access he wants. You say "you don't trust him", but don't say why. He's not asking you to give "everyone" access. He is asking you to give him, your boss, access.

Even if you don't give it to him, IT can reset your passwords anyway and your superiors can see and hear everything.

There is no law that prohibits an employer from demanding such information. Whether it is consistent with university policy is another question. If you own the computer, I would think the demand was unreasonable. If the university owns the computers, I see no problem at all.

Yes, it's legal. What happens if one day you decide you're just not coming back, and they never hear from you again? Don't do anything you're not supposed to at work, and you won't have to be paranoid.