Is my personnel file "mine"?

Factual Questions
1

I’m about to quit a job where I’d been very unhappy for quite some time. During that time I had several unpleasant incidents with my supervisor, two of which ended up with her being reprimanded by her manager and the other where my union went to bat for me against her and won.

My supervisor has always been big on threatenng to “write people up” for various things, or claiming to have “written you up”, without providing copies to the “writee”. Most people here think it’s all bullshit and just more of the bullying/lying that is the hallmark of her management style.

The other day I was in the personnel secretary’s office unattended for a moment and spied my “file”. It looked alarmingly thick. I imagine it’s full of petty little accusations, exaggeratons and personal attacks by my supervisor disguised as negative performace appraisals. These, if repeated to a future employer looking for a reference, could lose me a job.

I wish now I had just grabbed the thing, stuffed it under my shirt and walked out.

So…what if I had? It’s full of personal into about me, so is it my file? Could I have been arrested or whatever for taking it? Should I take it if given the chance?

2

The real solution is to just pick your references among people you trust. The company will most likely just give out dates of employment and possibly salary if they get called. It isn’t like there is a master file somewhere that companies share among one another and it is legally dangerous even if they wanted to. It doesn’t work that way.

3

It’s clearly not your file, since you didn’t write it. Just because it is about you doesn’t make it yours. While your company policy (and possibly local labor laws) may give you access to parts or all of it, you don’t have the right to possess it or take it from the company.

I imagine you could be fired for taking it, or the company could press theft charges.

4

It is not your property, it is your company’s. Some companies allow employees to see their own files but it is not required AFAIK. If you take it and are discovered it could be trouble.

Most companies now have a policy that the only information they will disclose about an employee is dates of employment. They’re not going to fax people copies of your performance appraisals.

If you want to provide a reference, name somebody who you know will give you a good reference, don’t refer them to HR.

5

IAMNALawyer, and German and US labor law is very different. So I can only tell you what I know about Germany:

The file itself belongs to the company, obviously.

However, each employee has the right to see what’s written down in his file. (That unofficially this might send signs to people is a different thing).

If you are written up (as opposed to being threatened to) with an official reprimand, you have to be informed of it, and have a certain time (3 months?) to protest officially that it be removed. That’s usually where union membership is useful, because they send a representative with you and advise you (but unions are very different in Germany from what they seem to be in the US).

Now I wait for the US dopers to tell how different it’s handled in the US.

ETA: I see that you already handled the official reprimands. Are performance reviews not regulated as to how often and under what circumstances they occur, that you suspect your bad supervisor might have misused them? Did the superior manager not to have them sign off before adding them to your file?

6

If it’s too much trouble could the OP’s manager be sued for libel?

7

U.S.
Get with your union rep and ask to see your file. Any write upps in the file that you have not signed ask that they be removed. When you are given a written right up before it is put in you file the employeer is required to show it to you and allow you to respond. the signature is prof that you have read it. If they have no proof that you have read it then they can be required to remove it from you file.

Many employeers do not think your signature is important and will argue that you are not allowed to respond or sign it. But every case that I have heard of where unsigned right ups were in the file and the employeer tried to fire the employee based on those right ups have failed. That is if the employee used the proper steps fo fight the firing. Sometimes it has taken a few months before it gets through the system, but then the employee is “made whole”. That is reinstated with back pay. the key here is proper filing by the employee of an improper action by the employeer.

8

This is remarkably similiar to the case in New Zealand. ANYTHING disciplinary must be noted in writing, and the employee must be informed. Even if it is just a verbal warning, the specifics of the warning must be properly recorded. (i.e - if for lateness, then the date, how late etc etc)

Further, in any sort of disciplinary procedure the employee is allowed to have an advocate present.

Finally, in new Zealand, similiar trangressions by different employees must attract the same penalties - or the employer is in for a world of hurt.

9

If you are a member of a union, your labor contract will specify your rights to see your personnel file. In the more likely event that someone is not a member of a union, rights will depend on state law.

If you had walked out with the file, they could have treated it as a theft. That would probably have counted more vehemently against you than anything in the file.

Many companies do just give dates of employment. However, companies that do this generally also forbid, as a matter of policy, any employees other than HR from giving references. So if you ask a coworker to be a reference in that situation, you put them in something of an awkard position.

It is actually a fairly normal management practice for managers to give what is known as a verbal warning and document that in the personnel file. The practice is called progressive discipline and it generally goes from verbal warning to written warning (both given to the employee in writing and noted in the file) to termination, with the option to skip a step for very serious problems. Unless your union contract specifies something different about how discipline is to be handled, nothing really sounds odd about how she handled discipline for minor situations. Your next employer may well have the same practice, although hopefully you will not have the same problems with your new supervisor.

10

I worked in H/R in Illinois and every state is different.

Here’s basically what Illinois says:

You have the same right to your employee file as any other employee, PROVIDED you are within a year of your dismissal date. After a year they may close your file to you.

Employees currently active must be able to review their personnel file at least two times per year. So if you were within a year of your termination date and in Illinois they’d have to let you look at it at least twice.

Employers may make it mandatory you put your requests in writing. Once this has been submitted, they have 14 days to make the file available for your review.

Employers do NOT have to let you see any thing regading tests you’ve taken, but they have to let you see the final result. They do not have to let you see recommendation letters. They do not have to let you see any criminal investigations they are conducting of you.

This is because if they suspect an employee of say, theft, they will often put the notes in your file. They’re obviously not going to make it so you can see they’re about to bust you. They must let you see the notes AFTER the criminal investigation is completed.

Anything that is in your file that could compromise the privacy of another employee, such as another employees medical history, is not to be issued to you. I never quite understood this part but it makes sense, not to release it. Although I can’t figure out why anything like that about another employee would be in your file.

You have the right to dispute anything in your file. If your employer refuses to remove it, then you have a right to place a statement in your file giving your side.

Lastly the employer may only put things in your file related to your employment. In other words they can’t put down you belong to “The Kiwanis Club,” or any other association unless it is directly related to your file.

The above is for Illinois, your state will probably be different. And in Illinois it doesn’t apply to any union negotiated contracts to the contrary.

The best way to see what is being said about you is have a friend call you and pretend to be from a company and requesting a reference. You can see what is being said.

In reality a lot of communities are close. Even in a city as big as Chicago, when I worked in hotels, it was all to easy to get a “real” reference because you knew people who would talk to you “off the record.” H/R managers stick together because they know in hospitality, people come and go quickly so they need each other’s help.

11

Never worked under a union contract that even mentioned my personnel file. In the cases that I have heard about the union rep or lawyer state and federal labor laws the get the employee reinstated.

12

My son did this years ago. He worked part time (40 hours a week, ya right), he also had his own business of doing lightig for shows or viedo shoots. He got a call for a gig two weeks long out of state for $15,000. When he asked for the time off (he took the job with the understanding that he could take time off for a gig) he was refused. He needed to fly out at the end of the week so he exercised his right as a at will employee and quit. After the gig was over looking for another job he would have good interviews but no call backs. He had a friend in his industry call for a referance, their responce ws he was on the do not rehire list. He contacted the company’s HR department for an explanation and explained that he would only call once the next call would be when the company was served. He had a different friend in a different industry try a week later and their answer was that they do not give referances either way.

So using a friend can help you get information.

13

Actually there is no “company policy” at all about my file.

Well, since I am quitting on Friday, that isn’t really a concern.

As far as theft charges, err, if, when someone went looking for the file after I left and couldn’t find it, how would they know if it wasn’t just misplaced?

14

Just to clarify here, I could easily take the file, I can just get there a few minutes early, go in, grab it. They can’t charge me with theft if they don’t have proof.

And besides, what exactly would they claim I have stolen? It’s a bunch of info about me; I no longer work for them. The information is valueless, what have they lost? What has been “stolen”?

15

Dripping, I strongly recommend you do not take the file. It is theft, chargeable under your state’s laws and could land you in jail. Not worth it. :eek:

If you really want to know what it is in it, ask to see it. Put the request in writing if you are required to by the company. If you have a complaint about any of the contents of the file, let Human Resources know what your complaint is (e.g.: I never saw or signed that “write-up”).

As a general rule, most companies these days do not offer any information to a prospective employer about one of their former employees other than confirmation of dates employed, position, and sometimes salary.

16

Just because the file is thick does not mean it is full of negative stuff: it probably contains the paperwork from when you were hired (application, resume), your tax information, copies of any and all “official” emails and letters you have received, any evaluations you’ve had, insurance information, etc.

17

I do appreciate your advice, but the thing is they could not possibly prove I took it. The file would just “be missing” the next time they looked for it. How on earth could anyone charge me with theft of the file if they had no evidence of me “stealing” it?

And again, I don’t feel that me taking a file full of info about me is “stealing” in the first place…it’s my personal information…

18

If you work in the public sector you can access your personnel file under the Freedom of Information Act. Actually you can access any public servant’s personnel file.

19

There is information in the file about your supervisors, that the company may wish to detail for legal and HR reasons, that contains company confidential information. It’s not your personal information, it’s the company’s information. The fact that you think you can get away with theft doesn’t make it any less theft.

20

In both states that it came up in for me MA and VA they were required to show and provide copies of the file upon request from me by law. As far as I know you have no right to keep anything in the file or to have anything removed unless its covered in the companies file.