Human Resource Blog

Personnel Files in Indiana

	HR Management
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	Workplace Management
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I have an employee that I am writing up for discussing their wages with other employees, and he is giving me a hard time about signing the write up. He is now requesting to look at his personnl file. Do I have to show this to him? And if so, is he allowed to copy from the file?

There are actually three different issues here, and we will address each of them separately. Although many company policies forbid it, it may in fact be permitted , under federal law, for an employee to share information about his or her own salary with another employee. This conduct is protected under federal laws regarding collective bargaining and unions. That\\\\\\\’s because often such information is used by union organizers lawfully engaged in thier work. You could write your employee up for disclosing a third party\\\\\\\’s salary, but not his own.

It is not unusual for employees to refuse to sign a disciplinary warning. That\\\\\\\’s because many employees feel it does not count unless they sign it. They are wrong. Signing the writeup is not an admission of guilt, it simply acknowleges that a conversation took place about this issue. When that is explained, the employee usually signs the writeup. If not, the employer can and should ask someone who witnessed the conversation (preferably another supervisor or manager) to sign the writeup instead. The second manager simply writes \\\\\\\”This issue was discussed with the employee, who refused to sign the writeup.\\\\\\\” and signs it. This is sufficient proof that, in fact, a discussion did take place.

A few states do require that employees be shown their own personnel files upon request. As far as we were able to determine, Indiana is not one of them. So there is no need for that information to be shared with the worker.