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Access to Personnel Files & Technology (answered by EBG) |
vcgerke
Joined: May 06, 2002
Posts: 1 |  Posted: 2002-05-06 14:19
With the advent of portals and intranets and self-service HR, employees have many ways to access to their "personnel file." I am looking for examples of how to capture this in a policy about "Access to Personnel Files." In the past, we have focused on the "paper" files. Is there a need or trend now to add language to policies to reflect the world of electronic HR?
Are there any examples of policy language available?
Thanks in advance.
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Forum Hosts
Legal Forum Host
Joined: Dec 20, 2001
Posts: 521 | Posted: 2002-05-06 15:16
Some states allow an employee access to their personnel files, others do not. Even within states in the first group, the rules vary-- some require an employer to let the employee see their file, others allow for copies, and so on. Your policies need to start with what applicable law requires, and go from there. I am not aware of any states that have special laws for electronic access (although I certainly cannot rule out the possibility).
In states that don't allow employee access to personnel files, the issue you raise won't come up (unless particular employers choose to grant their employees access that state law does not require). For states giving access to employees, I will leave it to our "technofile" readers to offer suggestions as to how the computer can make it easier (cheaper?) for you to comply with what your state law requires.
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cam1
Joined: Sep 13, 2001
Posts: 22 | Posted: 2004-05-14 05:10
Are there any state laws regarding access to personnel files once an employee is terminated. I have a terminated Texas employee who would like me to send her a copy of her personnel file.
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howard7
Joined: Sep 13, 2001
Posts: 2615 | Posted: 2004-05-14 15:13
As previously stated on this Forum, the general rule is that the employer, not the employee, owns the personnel file. It is corporate property and does not have to be shared. In Texas there are no laws that would require you to give a copy of the file to anyone.
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nork3
Joined: Feb 12, 2002
Posts: 3876 | Posted: 2004-05-14 16:00
And as a supplement to howard7's on target answer, I'd also point out that the reason a former employee wants a copy of his/her employee file is almost certainly because he/she is contemplating legal action. Providing a copy only relieves a plaintiff attorney of having to go through the subpoena process, and sometimes just that effort and cost alone is enough to cause an attorney to not consider taking the case.
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pkelly3833
Joined: Jul 10, 2007
Posts: 1 | Posted: 2007-07-10 07:27
Where can you go to see what your state requires regarding this issue?
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rrupert
Joined: Feb 15, 2006
Posts: 1612 | Posted: 2007-07-10 11:24
http://www.ahipubs.com/reports/persaccess.pdf is one chart that I have seen, but I would verify it with your state's DOL. Many states have online sites that answer FAQs.
Sometimes googling something as simple as "state employee personnel file access" will pop up good information.
rr
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ctooker
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
Posts: 16 | Posted: 2007-07-16 14:17
Related to this topic, I have a defense attorney contacting me about obtaining a former employee's personnel file. The former employee is suing someone for something unrelated to his employment with our company. The employee signed a full release of the file. Our policy is not to release personnel files of former employees without a subpoena. My question is: if the attorney provides a supoena, I assume I will need to release the records? If the employee has signed a release, and I'm going to have to produce any way, why shouldn't I produce without a subpoena? What does requiring a subpoena really do? Thanks for your help!
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nork3
Joined: Feb 12, 2002
Posts: 3876 | Posted: 2007-07-16 15:20
What requiring a subpeona does is make sure that you're not giving a plaintiff attorney a free fishing expedition. A plaintiff attorney will often encourage an ex employee to get a copy of the employment file to see if there's anything remotely actionable in it. By making the attorney spend some billable time and show cause to get a subpeona, you ward off a lot of these fishing trips.
That may not be the case here since it appears that its the attorney for the party being sued by the employee who's requesting the file. Nevertheless, it still sounds a bit like a fishing expedition (let's see if we can find some dirt on the person suing us!) and there are privacy issues involved. I would recommend requesting specifics on the items the attorney wants from the file AND having him/her get a subpeona for them.
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