What Belongs in an Employee Personnel File?
Knowing what to put in an employee’s personnel file can be confusing for many business owners. Where do you keep the supervisory notes about employee performance, first report of injury forms, or the letter of suspension? How about time off requests or annual performance evaluations? Should you keep a specific document or toss it?
The Minnesota state legislature has standardized a definition of personnel files for private employers with twenty (20) or more employees. (This statute does not apply to cities or counties). It provides clear guidance about what should be included in an employee personnel file, and just as importantly what should not be placed in the personnel file. Things to include are applications for employment, wage and salary history, fringe benefits, leave records, warnings, discipline or termination, to name just a few.
The list of documents to omit from a personnel file include letters of reference supplied by another person, information relating to an investigation until the investigation is completed, specific types of education records, results of employer testing, medical reports, etc. While these types of documents should not be stored in a personnel file, they should definitely be maintained in a separate file. They may be important in the future to establish the employment history of a problem employee, to support a disciplinary action, or to assist in the defense against a claim made against your business.
Even if your workplace is smaller than 20 employees, the statute can still be helpful. It should be seen as a “gold standard” for businesses on how to maintain and manage personnel files. An audit of your personnel files is a great business practice to complete at the end of each year. Add it at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions, above weight loss and exercising more, and follow-through on it.
