Employers Can’t Legally Hold Back Worker Records

Q: I work for a large, well-known company. Under its review policy, if you meet the company standards, you should receive the minimum raise. I met the company standards. I was told at a one-on-one meeting with my supervisor that I had performed well and he had tried to get me some money, but that I was earning too much. Therefore, no raise. I am an exempt employee.

I went to the human resources department and explained my situation. I was told they would look into the matter. The human resources individual called back and said that he had talked with my supervisor and a program manager, and they both had given a bad review of me. He had supposedly written down comments from these individuals but would not let me see them. I asked why this was not in my review and was told that my supervisor was being charitable.

I was told to drop the matter and there would be no change in my personal file. I later checked my personal file and did not find anything in it.

Did I have the right to see what was written about me?

--L.S., Anaheim

A: According to state law, employees have a right to look at their own employee file during normal business hours. The employer will be liable if an employee’s request to see a file is refused or if the employee is not allowed to inspect the file in its entirety.

The company has probably promised you in its employee handbook to give you an honest evaluation periodically. It would be inappropriate for them to keep a double file on you with negative evaluations while giving you a better one.

You have a legal right to review all written information concerning your employment, whether or not it is in your formal file. Despite your right to see your file and any information that should be in it governing your performance, what is in your file sometimes does not really matter as much as what is in your boss’ head.

Too often employees, in an effort to increase their job security, argue to their supervisors about inconsequential details of employee reviews or contents of a personnel file. They often accomplish their short-range goal of changing the file or the review but lose their higher goal of job security by angering management personnel over them.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo

Can Two Weeks’ Notice Be Refused?

Q: If you give your employer two weeks’ notice and he says he doesn’t want you to work those two weeks, is he still obligated to pay you?

A: Assuming that your question refers to payment during the period of the two weeks’ notice that you tried to give, the answer is generally no. Absent a contractual commitment to the contrary, employers are free to accept a resignation immediately, and not obligated to require or permit a resigning employee to perform services through a notice period. That is true even though an employer may have expressed a preference to receive two weeks’ notice from terminating employees.

There may, however, be circumstances in which an employer’s written policy promises to pay an employee during the notice period. If that is the case, the employer may be obliged to pay during the notice period even when it elects to make the termination immediate. However, few employer policies contain such express promises.

--Michael A. Hood

Employment law attorney

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker

See Shop Steward for Help

Q: We work in a manufacturing plant of a little over 100 employees. For years we have been receiving wage increases by contract agreement in a manner that we feel is unfair.

Example:

Number of Work week Hourly pay Weekly pay workers (hours) raise raise Group A 100 35 $0.30 $10.50 Group B 12 40 0.30 12.00 Group C 12 40 0.2625 10.50

As you can see, Groups A and B get the same increase by hour, even though they work a different number of hours a week, 35 versus 40 hours.

Group C gets a smaller rate increase by hour because the employer and the union said Group C should get the same increase by week ($10.50) as Group A even though C works five more hours a week.

Is this a fair practice? Also, because of the fact that Group C is formed of minorities (Latinos), we are not sure if discrimination is playing a role in this matter. What can we do?

--R.L., Riverside

A Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement are paid in accordance with the pay arrangements stipulated in such agreements.

Whether or not discrimination is an issue is unclear based on the facts presented. However, it is highly unlikely that discriminative tactics would be agreed to in a union contract, much less negotiated into a contract agreement, either by management or labor.

It sounds as though you have some legitimate concerns that should be addressed through the proper channels defined under the terms of the contract. Your shop steward can assist you with acquiring the proper procedure to obtain answers to your questions. There usually are grievance or arbitration procedures stipulated within the contract language for resolving.

--Elizabeth Winfree-Lydon

Senior staff consultant

The Employers Group