Whose file is it anyway?

WO

Greetings All,

I occasionally receive requests from an employee to place something in HR's personnel file; typically it is a certificate, training or a letter of commendation.

My most recent request is from an unhappy employee who appears to want to use her personnel file as her personal filing system. We have been through office improvement sessions, counseling, investigations, attempts to place her with another department, etc with this employee.

The letter chronologically lists her complaints over the last year, her perceptions of how they were resolved or unresolved, her perception of what was said, etc. Not necessarily factual or accurate.

I have a separate supplemental file documenting our efforts w/this ee/dept so will file letter there.

My question: Would you place it in HR's personnel file as requested? Tell her that the file is the employer's file?

ray a

I maintain a complaint file and would place her letter there,not her personnel file. That is for office company documents. The only time I have placed an ee letter in their file is when it was a direct, immediate response to a specific reprimand.

Toto

I agree. If you allow this one, how do you tell her no to the next ten requests.

My problems is supv who want to use EE file for "pats on back" memos/emails instead of documenting them on evals which are kept in file. When do you remove positive stuff that shouldn't have been placed there in the first place but maintained at the supv level?

System

Our policy, which is clearly stated in our handbook, says that a personnel file is the confidential property of the company, not the employee. Employees may periodically request to reveiw its content, in the presence of someone HR, but employees are not allowed to remove from, add to, copy or modify anything in the file. The personel file should be treated like any other company confidential document, with very tight controls on its review and use. Now, some state laws require you to allow employees to access their file, so check your local laws to see if there are any requirements or prohibitions regarding personnel files. But absent any state controls, don't allow employees to view the personel file as their own personal document and diary of their work experience. What is contained in the file can someday become evidence in a legal matter, and the last thing you want is employees stuffing their file with complaints, allegations of mistreatment, exagerations and charges of discrmination or retaliation. Treat those allegations seriously, but as pointed out above, keep them in a separate complaint and investigation file.

WO

Thanks to all. I am doing exactly that placing the document in my working file for that department.

Your input is appreciated.

WO

davids

You want to check your state's statutes, if any, regarding personnel files. My state has an expansive definition. Essentially any file that contains material that impacts the employee's employment status is considered part of the personnel file. That includes supervisors' working files and the supervisor's calendar if he/she keeps notes on employees in the calendar (such as, Sally was late today). So, by placing your employee's letter in a seperate file, it may still be considered in her personnel file.

At my former place of employment I had an employee who wrote a rebuttal to a letter of reprimand. The rebuttal, which included 42 appendices, was over 120 pages. Luckily, our policy governing personnel files provided the employee a right to submit "a reasonable amount of material" into her file. We told this employee that 120 pages was not reasonable.

Toto

Excellent info, didn't think of that.

Also, I'm curious, David. How many pages of her "novel" did she resubmit or that you allowed as reasonable? Was she still employed there when you left? I bet she pushed her supv(s) to the edge mentally.

davids

This particular employee seemed to need drama in her life, so she was always in the middle of some crises or high energy personal event. And, yes, it was very emotionally draining for her supervisors. She is still there and still creating drama according to the former HR coworkers with whom I keep in touch. (Just to put this in perspective, we were a public employer who needed to provide the employee "due process." Her antics were always just on the border and not quite over enough for us to do more than a reprimand.)

The employee did not resubmit any of the rebuttal. I do recall other employees submitting rebuttals of up to eight pages which we accepted. The strange thing is that employees who submit such rebuttals usually bring up subjects not mentioned in the reprimand or evaluation and, in my opinion, do themselves more harm than good.

Caroliso

I will second this definition of personnel file for MA. My attorney has said this several times. It never occurred to me that this might be state specific. Although, it raises the question of what you include when an employee requests to look at or receive a copy of his/her file. I wouldn't have thought of including my own HR files, or ask supervisors for copies of their file.
On the other hand, if I was sent a demand letter for personnel files, it is clear to me that I would need to gather all those described by DavidS above.
David, how does your policy handle this? If an EE asks to review his/her file, do you gather all that stuff?

davids

Well, we would start out by seeking clarification of what the employee wants. We might tell the employee to speak to his/her supervisor to see the supervisory file; but, in the end, yes, we would compile it all if the employee or his/her representative (union or attorney) wanted to see everything.