Town of South Hadley, MA Personnel Records

Administration shall maintain adequate records, including detailed personnel records of all employees. Each department, committee and board of the Town shall furnish Administration with all facts, figures and other information pertaining to the employees of the Town under their respective jurisdiction, as Administration shall require.

The following written information or documents shall be included in an employee's personnel record: name, address, date of birth, job title and description, rate of pay and any other compensation paid to the employee, starting date of employment, the job application of the employee, resumes or other forms of employment inquiry submitted to the employer by the employee, all employee performance evaluations, including but not limited to, employee evaluation documents, written warnings of substandard performance, lists of probationary or introductory periods, waivers signed by the employee, copies of dated termination notices, and any other documents relating to disciplinary action regarding the employee. (MGL c. 149, § 52C)

Employees are responsible for notifying their supervisor of any changes in address, telephone number, or name change, personal e-mail address etc., and if needed for benefits, changes in dependents and marital status.

An employee has the right to examine his/her personnel record within five business days of making a written request. The review shall take place at work and during normal business hours. Additionally, an employee may obtain a copy of his or her personnel record within five business days of a written request for such a copy. The Town reserves the right to charge an employee a reasonable fee for copying the documents. In no event shall the personnel record be removed from its designated area without the express permission of Administration.

No information or material derogatory to an employee shall be filed in a personnel record without the knowledge of the individual employee. An employer shall notify an employee within 10 days of placing any information in the employee's personnel record that "has been used or may be used, to negatively affect the employee's qualification for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation or the possibility that the employee will be subject to disciplinary action." (MGL. c. 149, § 52C)

If an employee disagrees with any information contained in his or her personnel file, the employee shall have the right to submit a written statement explaining the employee's position which shall become part of the employee's personnel record. The employee's statement shall be included when said information is transmitted to a third party as long as the original information is retained as part of the file.

All medical information pertaining to an employee shall be maintained in a file for that employee that is physically separate from the employee's personnel file.

For active or terminated Town employees, no individually identifiable information contained in the personnel file or medical records of any employee shall be disclosed to non-Town officials without written authorization of such employee except where the information is limited to the verification of dates of employment and the employee's title or position, and wage or salary. Information in an employee's personnel or medical file may be shared with or reviewed by the employee's supervisor, department head, or other appropriate individual on a need-to-know basis.

The exceptions to this limitation are where information is given pursuant to a proper subpoena, a government audit, an apparent medical emergency, a union collective bargaining agreement, an order of a government agency or otherwise provided by law.