HR Management & Compliance

Short Takes: Records Inspection

I understand that under California law, I have to allow current and former employees access to their personnel files and records that relate to the employee’s performance or to any grievance concerning the employee “at reasonable times and intervals.” But some of our employees are making a lot of requests. So what does “at reasonable times and intervals” mean?


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Although this phrase is not defined, the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) has said that “reasonable times” is during the regular business hours of the office where the personnel records are, or at any time during the employee’s regularly scheduled work shift, and you should give the employee enough time to conduct a thorough inspection. Sufficient time, of course, varies with the size and content of the file. The DLSE has also said that it considers “reasonable intervals” to be once a year, unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the file has been altered in a way possibly unfavorable to the employee’s interests, or there is an ongoing investigation, in which cases more frequent inspections would be considered reasonable. — CELA Editors

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