No need for job applicants in Germany to file for a name change before filing for a new job.

German lawmakers have seemingly come to the rescue of drunken party picture-posters across the country by advancing legislation that would restrict the access employers have to job applicants’ profiles on Facebook.

The New York Times reports the proposed bill would allow employers to search for information on prospective employees through the Web and on job networking sites like LinkedIn, but not on ‘purely social networking sites’ like Facebook.

Taking it further, the bill would also make it illegal for employers to “friend” an applicant on Facebook in order to check out private details. A rejected job applicant could take the company to court and claim damages, as long as he or she could prove they were turned down based on violation of the new law.

The Facebook regulations are part of a larger measure to govern workplace privacy led by Germany’s Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere. The proposed law received backing from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet this week and could be passed as early as this year, the Times reports.

The efforts are another chapter in Germany’s ongoing struggle to protect individual privacy in the digital age.

We reported earlier that top Google executives agreed to a meeting with German officials after concerns over the planned expansion of the company’s Street View feature to 20 German cities reached fever peak. German authorities have also interrogated Apple over its data-collection policies for the iPhone.

In response to this latest legislation, a Facebook spokeswoman in Paris, Sarah Roy, told the Times the company would not comment specifically but that the ‘Web site’s privacy settings allowed users to share information as broadly or as narrowly as they liked, either with entire networks or with a limited number of participants.’