Business Council of NY Opposes Right to Review Personnel Records

by Rhonda J Mangus | August 20, 2009 at 04:53 am

696 views | 45 Recommendations | 18 comments

The Business Council of New York State, who is "working to create economic growth, good jobs and strong communities across New York State", opposes the enactment of S.1629 introduced by New York State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer in February of this year and its companion bill A.4350 introduced by Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie to amend the labor law and the civil service law in relation to employees' right to review personnel records.

According to a Legislative Memo at The Business Council's Website:

Current practice — For years, it has been common practice by private sector employers to give employees access to their individual personnel files and in many cases to copy sections when needed. A state-wide mandate is not necessary.

'Common practice'? A state-wide mandate is not necessary?

PeopleInc., a leading non-profit human services agency in Western New York, is one such agency that does not permit its employees access to their personnel records. According to correspondence obtained by this author, Kathryn D. Alterio, Director of Human Resources for PeopleInc., states that "Per our agency's policy we do not allow former employees to view their personnel file. The policy also states that, "The agency will not provide current or former employees with copies of personnel files absent a subpoena."

Even though Increasing Employee Demands for Personnel File Access Worries Employers, it is probably in the best interests of all concerned that an employer grant an employee the right to review his/her personnel records.

Denying employees access to their personnel files can also backfire on an employer, even in states where it's not mandatory, cautioned Roger Brice, an employment lawyer in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

Brice noted that, in the event of a lawsuit, an employer might not be able to use the file to defend itself if it has denied that file to the employee.

S.1629 passed the Codes Committee and has been referred to the Finance Committee for further consideration. It passed the Senate Labor Committee and has been referred to the Senate Codes Committee (pg 85 of Legislative Cumulative Report for New York).

View entire Legislative Cumulative Report for New York.

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Babel-Fish

at 05:25 on August 20th, 2009

Is there not a data protection act in USA? If there is and its like UK's the recorded personal data would have to be supplied to the ex-employee by law.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:20 on August 20th, 2009

Babel-Fish, thank you for reading, commenting, and for the recommendation. There are both federal and state level laws on the matters of recorded personal data, and different from the right of an employee to view his/her personnel record in its entirety. A read of Workplace Privacy that compares New York workplace privacy laws to Connecticut workplace privacy laws, as well as federal law governing release of personal information may further clarify this for you.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:34 on August 20th, 2009

Babel-Fish, I also want to share that in 2007 there were "...35 states and the District of Columbia have laws that govern employee access to personnel files, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, a Virginia-based association for human resources management. States with no laws guaranteeing personnel-file access include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Montana, New Jersey and New York." (from Increasing Employee Demands for Personnel File Access Worries Employers).

Obviously, New York State has no such laws guaranteeing personnel-file access. I have not checked Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Montana, or New Jersey to learn whether or not they have amended their laws.

Paschen

at 06:39 on August 20th, 2009

Every one needs to have free access to all records concerning one self.

This should be a fundamental right.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:52 on August 20th, 2009

Paschen, thank you! Seemingly, many states have recognized this right. In Connecticut, "If an employee disagrees with anything contained in his personnel records, the employee and employer may agree to remove or correct the information. If the employer does not agree to such removal or correction, the employee may submit a statement explaining his position, which the employer must keep in the records, and include in any disclosures to third parties.235" (from Workplace Privacy).

Paschen

at 06:59 on August 20th, 2009

That does sound like a healthy practice being uphold in Connecticut.

Babel-Fish

at 07:09 on August 20th, 2009

Looking at this problem as its the responsibility of main government to ensure the freedom and liberty of the United states it is there job to ensure the citizens rights this factor should not be left up to states legislation. Why is no one petitioning the office of the president as he is total responsible to ensure the senate sees to the welfare of the people including there human and civil rights?

Why has such a national federal matter been allowed to be handled at state level, this is to do with human rights of every American citizen?

Rhonda J Mangus

at 08:25 on August 20th, 2009

Babel-Fish, "Why has such a national federal matter been allowed to be handled at state level, this is to do with human rights of every American citizen?" is a very good question! Unfortunately, one which I also do not have the answer too at this moment.

My personal experience however does tell me that human and civil rights are violated on a daily basis in the United States, and one should never assume their 'rights'.