Employee's Rights to Review Personnel Records

Beginning next year, most Minnesota employers will have a new obligation: to inform new employees of the employee's right to review his or her personnel records and obtain copies of those records.

Effective January 1, 2008, Minnesota employers with 20 or more employees must provide written notice to each new hire of the "rights and remedies" provided in sections 181.960 to 181.965 of the Minnesota Personnel Record Review and Access Act (MPRRAA), Minn. Stat. § 181.960-967.

This means that employers will need to (1) create a written notice of the "rights and remedies" and (2) create and keep documentation that the notice was provided to each new hire.

The written notice must alert each new hire to the following rights and remedies:

1. The employee's right to review the employee's "personnel records," as those are defined by the MPRRAA.

2. The employee's right, after the review, to make a written request for a copy of those records.

3. The employee's right to dispute information contained in those records.

4. The procedures for resolving disputes about the contents of those records.

5. The employee's right not to be retaliated against for asserting these rights.

6. The remedies available under the MPRRAA for violations of the above rights, including the right to compel compliance, the right to recover actual damages plus costs, and, in cases of retaliation for asserting one's rights, the right to recover back pay, reinstatement, other make-whole and equitable relief, and attorney fees.

None of these rights or remedies is new. What is new is that, starting on January 1, employers must inform employees in writing about these rights and remedies.