Personnel Files & Employees' Legal Rights
An employee’s personnel file usually contains information related to their performance, salary, and any investigations of misconduct or medical issues. As a result, these records are generally considered private and can be accessed by only the employer and the employee. Some types of employees can access the files of other employees, however, such as when a supervisor needs to review performance evaluations or when the hiring department needs to compare employee salaries.
A company may enact a policy that provides specifically who can view an employee's personnel file. Employees who violate this policy may be subject to discipline. While paper versions of the file should be kept locked in a filing cabinet, electronic versions in an employer’s database should be withheld from general access by other employees and kept behind a password or other authentication system.
Medical Records
Any information regarding an employee’s medical condition needs to comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This information should be kept separate from the main personnel file. The people who can access this information should be limited to the employee’s supervisor, insurance companies, and people who need to give the employee medical treatment, as well as government officials if needed. Employees who participate in group health care plans through their employers have additional privacy rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
An Employee's Right to View Their File
Employees likely have a right to view part or all of their personnel file, although a supervisor or another representative of the employer may need to be present while they are viewing it. (Former employees sometimes have this right as well, as discussed below.) Employees probably do not have a right to view information in their file that relates to the personal information of another employee or information about internal investigations of their alleged misconduct. Employees may be able to make copies of some documents in their personnel file, although they are less likely to be able to copy information related to performance reviews than information related to objective data like their salary.
Even if state law does not specifically provide that employees have a right to view their personnel file, they may have this right if their company provides it in an internal policy. Many companies do this to bolster the employment relationship.
Former Employees Viewing Personnel Files
While some states allow only current employees to view their personnel files, other states extend this right to former employees. Sometimes a former employee who is allowed to view their file finds that it contains documents that were not in the file when they last saw it before they were fired. They may feel suspicious about this situation and wonder if the document was created after their termination to justify it. This may or may not be the case. If an employee has been terminated and is considering legal action, they may want to ask to view their file to the extent that company policy permits it. This will give them a clear understanding of what the file contained at the time of the termination.