Releasing employee information

jami

I have a question as it relates to releasing employee information such as DOB and Soc.

Our company has a very good relationship with our county Law Enforcement. We call upon them during the course of our business for theft of services, disturbance, etc. So - it does benefit us to keep this relationship as close as possible.

Sceanrio: There are times during the course of our business (unrelated to any call that we make to them) that the County requests certain employee information (DOB, Soc, address) of a possible "person of interest" in potential crime related activity (usually, this activity is related to drug related cases not related to our business). Because of our established relationship, we have not been requiring a court written request for such information. I am concerned that we could be putting the company in legal harm of releasing such information. Note that our Manager of Public Safety is also a member of the County Law Enforcement reserve team.

We have not run into any legal issues as of yet, but, I am looking for some guidance on whether we should continue this practice. We do not release any information to any other authority upon request, only with written court order.

Advice/thoughts?

Sharon McKnight SPHR

I think that there could be issues with this practice down the road. Even if it turns out there are no legal issues you still may have employee relations issues to overcome.

If I were in your shoes, I would contact qualified employment law counsel to see what your options are. You may find that you can continue the practice if you notify employees in advance that you make certain types of information available to law authorities.

Hope this helps.

Sharon

plhepner

Not that I am on this "side" of Human Resources anymore, but I am curious to why we've always had to have a "signed release from the employee stating that he/she authorizes us to release this information." Now, granted, some of the calls are from bill collectors, but some are banks where employees have applied for a loan, some are apartment complexes where employees are trying to rent an apartment, but sometimes it's a simple yes/no. I mean I'm smart enough to know we can't release too much and only certain things but I feel there's nothing wrong with stating a simple yes/no.