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.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.
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.