An individual personnel file of all Town employees, both elected
and appointed, except employees of the School Department, shall be
prepared and kept by the Treasurer in his/her office. It shall be
the duty of each Town officer and employee to furnish to the Town
Administrator forthwith, upon request, all information needed for
the completion of this file. Such files shall be available to the
Board of Selectmen and Personnel Board at all reasonable times for
referred cases involving disciplinary action only. Such files shall
not be public records and shall be kept confidential as per state
regulations.
As used in this article, a personnel record shall include any
record that identifies an employee, to the extent that the record
is used or has been used, or may affect or be used relative to that
employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer,
additional compensation or disciplinary action. However, a personnel
record shall not include information of a personal nature about a
person other than the employee if disclosure of the information would
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of such other person's
privacy. All records kept shall be made consistent with the requirements
of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
All of the following written information or documents regarding
an employee shall be included in the personnel record for that employee:
the 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 Town by the employee;
all employee performance evaluations, including, but not limited to,
employee evaluation documents; written warnings of substandard performance;
lists of probationary periods; waivers signed by the employee; copies
of dated termination notices; and any other documents relating to
disciplinary action regarding the employee.
The Town Administrator shall provide an employee with an opportunity
to review his/her personnel file within five days of the employee's
request. A copy of his/her personnel file will be provided to an employee
within five days of his/her written request.
If there is a disagreement with any information contained in
a personnel record, removal or correction of such information may
be mutually agreed upon by the employer and the employee. If an agreement
is not reached, the employee may submit a written statement explaining
the employee's position, which shall thereupon be contained therein
and shall become a part of such employee's personnel record.
The 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. Information contained in a personnel record may
be removed from the personnel file upon mutual agreement of the Town
Administrator or department head and the employee for any reason.
Except for any information that is removed by mutual agreement
of the Town and the employee, the Town shall retain the complete personnel
record of an employee without deletions or expungement of information
from the date of employment of such employee to a date three years
after the termination of employment by the employee with such employer
unless otherwise required by law. In any cause of action brought by
an employee against the Town in an administrative or judicial proceeding,
the Town shall retain any personnel record required to be kept under
this section which is relevant to such action until the final disposition
thereof.