An employee's personnel file usually contains information related to their performance, salary, and any investigations of misconduct or medical issues. As a result, these records are generally considered private and can be accessed by only the employer and the employee.

[Company Name] employee files are maintained by the human resource (HR) department and are considered confidential. Managers and supervisors, other than the HR director and his or her subordinates, may only have access to personnel file information on a need-to-know basis.

The Dimensions of Employee-HR Confidentiality This data, which can pertain to age, sex, religion, race or national origin, must remain confidential. Similarly, social security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and spousal information also must remain confidential within employee personnel files.

Texas law does not require an employer to allow an employee to access his or her personnel file (exception: public employees may request copies of their personnel file documents under the Public Information Act) - however, most companies allow supervised access and copying of contents at the employee's cost - a company ...

A. Yes. Upon written request, the employer must provide a copy of the personnel file, at a charge not to exceed the actual cost of reproduction, not later than 30 calendar days from the date the employer receives the request.

If an employee is involuntarily terminated, his/her personnel records must be retained for one year from the date of termination. Under ADEA recordkeeping requirements, employers must also keep all payroll records for three years.

The employee need not obtain anyone's approval to request access to his or her file. However, the employer may need time to ensure it allows the employee to see only that information that the employer is permitted to share. For this reason, the employee may not be able to see the file immediately upon request.

Needless to say, the personnel file is highly confidential. Access should be limited to certain members of the HR department and their managers exclusively. The employee should only have selected and controlled access to the file.

Employers should keep all job-related documentation such as hiring records, performance reviews, disciplinary actions and job descriptions in an employee's general personnel file. Consider whether the document would be relevant to a supervisor who may review this file when making employment decisions.