PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 1567, 3319 PRINTER'S NO. 3521
No. 1330 Session of 1977
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. ENGLEHART, VALICENTI, PIEVSKY, TRELLO,
McCALL, LETTERMAN, RAPPAPORT AND KOLTER, JUNE 15, 1977
AS AMENDED ON THIRD CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JUNE 27, 1978
AN ACT
1 Authorizing an employee to inspect certain personnel files of
2 his employer.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Definitions.
6 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
7 have, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the
8 meanings given to them in this section:
9 "Employee." Any person currently employed, laid off with
10 reemployment rights or on leave of absence. The term "employee"
11 shall not include applicants for employment, designated agents,
12 or any other person.
13 "Employer." Any individual, person, partnership,
14 association, corporation, the Commonwealth, any of its political
15 subdivisions or any agency, authority, board or commission
16 created by them.
17 "Personnel file." If maintained by the employer, any
1 application for employment, wage or salary information, notices
2 of commendations, warning or discipline, authorization for a
3 deduction or withholding of pay, fringe benefit information,
4 leave records, employment history with the employer, including
5 salary information, job title, dates of changes, retirement
6 record, attendance records and performance evaluations. The term
7 "personnel file" shall not include records of an employee
8 relating to the investigation of a possible criminal offense,
9 letters of reference, documents which are being developed or
10 prepared for use in civil, criminal or general GRIEVANCE <--
11 procedures, or medical records or materials which are used by
12 the employer to plan for future operations.
13 Section 2. Inspection of personnel files.
14 An employer shall, at reasonable times, upon request of an
15 employee permit that employee to inspect his or her own
16 personnel files used to determine his or her own qualifications
17 for employment, promotion, additional compensation, termination
18 or disciplinary action. The employer shall make these records
19 available during the regular business hours of the office where
20 these records are usually and ordinarily maintained, when
21 sufficient time is available during the course of a regular
22 business day, to inspect the personnel files in question. The
23 employer may require the requesting employee to inspect such
24 records on the free time of the employee. At the employer's
25 discretion, the employee may be required to file a written form
26 to request access to the personnel file. This form is solely for
27 the purpose of identifying the requesting individual to avoid
28 disclosure to ineligible individuals. To assist the employer in
29 providing the correct records to meet the employees need, the
30 employee shall indicate in his written request, either the
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1 purpose for which the inspection is requested, or the particular
2 parts of his personnel record which he wishes to inspect.
3 Section 3. Applicability.
4 Nothing in this act shall be construed as a requirement that
5 an employee be permitted to remove his personnel file, any part
6 thereof, or copy of the contents of such file from the place of
7 the employer's premises where it is made available for
8 inspection. The taking of notes by employees is permitted. The
9 employer shall retain the right to protect his files from loss,
10 damage or alteration to insure the integrity of the files. The
11 employer may require inspection of the personnel file in the
12 presence of a designated official. The employer must allow
13 sufficient inspection time, commensurate with the volume content
14 of the file. Except for reasonable cause the employer may limit
15 inspection to once every calendar year.
16 Section 4. Administration of act.
17 The Bureau of Labor Standards of the Department of Labor and
18 Industry is hereby authorized and directed to enforce the
19 provisions of this act, and upon a petition and hearing by
20 either an employer or employee, to make and enforce such orders
21 as the bureau shall deem appropriate to which order will provide
22 access to said records and the opportunity for an employee to
23 place a counter statement in his or her file in the event an
24 alleged error is determined by an employee in the personnel
25 file. The bureau, however, shall have no authority to inspect
26 personnel files, to investigate alleged errors detected by an
27 employee in his personnel file, or to attempt remedial action
28 unless the records indicate violations of other sections of the
29 Pennsylvania Statutes. The employee must avail himself of
30 appropriate civil remedies such as grievance procedure under a
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1 union contract. Nothing in this act shall diminish any rights to
2 discovery granted under the rules of the court of Pennsylvania.
3 Section 5. Effective date.
4 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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