MINNESOTA PERSONNEL RECORD REVIEW AND ACCESS LAW
By Sharon G. Hobbs

Effective January 1, 2008, Minnesota employers with twenty (20) or more employees must provide written notice to each newly hired employee of his/her rights and remedies under the Minnesota Personnel Record Review and Access Law.

You may give this written notice as a separate document as part of the orientation process for each new employee. Alternatively, if you have an employee handbook that you provide to all new employees, I suggest that you incorporate the written notice into your employee handbook.

The notice should contain the following items:

Employees have the following rights under Minnesota law:

1. The right, upon written request, to review the employee’s “personnel records” as defined by law;
2. The right, after (or in lieu of) the review, upon written request, to receive a copy of the records;
3. The right to dispute information contained in those records;
4. The right to file a rebuttal statement in the file if the company refuses to change the information in the file;
5. The right not to be retaliated against for asserting these rights; and
6. The right to compel compliance, the right to recover actual damages plus costs, and in the event of retaliation for asserting his/her rights, the right to recover actual damages, back pay, and reinstatement or other make-whole, equitable relief, plus attorneys fees.

Sharon Hobbs practices in the areas of business law, employment law and estate planning.

This article is a general discussion of legal issues and is not intended to be legal advice. We would be pleased to review the specific facts and law regarding any given legal matter.