Your Rights to Access Your Employee File at Work

You may not know this, but your employer has, or is supposed to have, a file on you as an employee. And in fact, your employer must retain your file, even for three years after you leave employment with the company. But many employees don’t know what is contained in an employee file or what their rights are, relative to their own employee file.

What is In Your File?

Your employer must keep and maintain any document you signed when you started employment. That may contain contracts, but it may also contain standard documents like IRS or immigration paperwork, including your agreement to abide by company policies.

You may also find anything reflecting your performance as an employee, in the employee file. That may include negative or positive things.

It may include records of your attendance, promotions or pay increase documentation, any certifications or educational trainings you have undergone, and any records of admonishment or discipline. It may include some emails or correspondence, if they relate to your job performance, positive or negative.

What it does not and should not ever include is any information about your medical history, to the extent your employer has that information. For employees who have requested reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or who have made workers compensation claims, this may be a concern, as many employees who get documentation may mindlessly just put them in an employee file, which is not allowed. Medical information must be stored separately from your main employee file.

Your Right to See Your File

As an employee, you have the right to review your employee file, with limited exceptions. You cannot see any recommendations or reference letters your employer made for you or obtained by a previous employer. And anything related to any criminal investigation can be kept private by your employer.

Assuming you do have a right to review the file, it must be provided to you by your employer within thirty days of your request (if the request is only for payroll records, the employer has 21 days).

You also don’t have an automatic right to review your employee file, once you have commenced litigation against the employer. Your attorney may be able to get it for you in the course of the employment lawsuit, but that often takes specific permission from the judge presiding over the case.

Be Wary of Retaliatory Actions

Many employers see a request to review an employee’s file, as a precursor to an employment lawsuit. Because of that, many employers get very suspicious, and you should be on the lookout for potentially retaliatory actions; being punished for things you weren’t previously punished for, or being excluded from opportunities at work, or having your work situation altered in any way.

It is against the law for your employer to retaliate against you simply for asking for a copy of your file.

Being denied access to your file? Something in there that isn’t right? Ask us about your rights at work. Contact the California employment and employee rights attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today for help.

Source:

dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_righttoinspectpersonnelfiles.htm