Retention of Background and Reference Checks

DC10

It seems that I have read that the results of background and reference checks are NOT to be maintained in an employee's personnel file, but rather should be maintained separately. The rationale being...that the employee should not be abe to view this information should they request to see their personnel file in case there is unfavorable information from past/former employers.

Am interested to know where and how you maintain the results of your reference and background checks.

Thanks.

DC10

DB

Background and references are keep in a confidential file. The way it works here is each employee can (potentially) have a personnel file, a medical file, a confidential file and a worker's comp file. Supervisors and employees typically only see the personnel file unless there are very special circumstances.

DC10

Thanks. Do you know if there is a legal statute governing this?

DC10

JulieP

I keep seperate files on each employee. You can buy files to do this from places like g'neil, but I decided to go the cheaper route (I work for a small company). I have a hanging folder for each employee. In the hanging folder, I have a manilla folder for their personnel records, a red folder for their confidential records, a blue folder for their benefit/medical records, a green folder for their attendance records, and an orange folder for their training records. When an employee is terminated, I add a gray folder that keeps all their termination paperwork together.

I keep all workers comp records together by year. I do this in a ring binder filled with plastic protector pages. Each employee's accident record is kept in a separate plastic protector page.

This filing system seems to work good for me.

njjel

The regulation requires that medical records be kept separate - ours are in another filing cabinet, not in the same drawer where others could possibly see them.

Rockie

I've never seen any legal requirement that background checks and references be kept separate from the personnel file. If we kept five or six separate files on each of our employees, we would have to have a warehouse to store them in. The only thing we keep separate from the personnel file are medical records, i.e, Workers Comp or FMLA type issues. Everything else is in the personnel file which is considered confidential and there is strict access to these files.