Monday, September 27, 2010

OH Really!

This weekend a person asked me if she had a right to material about her that a work supervisor was referencing to her about.  She explained to me what it was and I said yes.  I said there is state law that allow employees access to their personnel files.  Her comment was, Oh Really!   The state law is Minnesota Chapter 181.960 to 181.966.

Many people are unaware of their legal and statutory rights.  How can people be notified of their rights?  Is it up to the individual to find out or should the employer let her know in the above scenario?  Notification of rights is an important concept if people are going to be aware of them and to be able to use them.

Many government agencies will put on their web sites the statutory rights they enforce and some description of the law. I decided to visit the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry website to see if their is a reference to the personnel law that by law they enforce.  Low and behold there is not.  I put in a call to the supervisor of that enforcing unit to let her know about the omission.  When the person calls back and I tell them about my website experience, will they say , "Oh Really".

2 comments:

  1. http://www.dli.mn.gov/LS/FaqPersFile.asp

    The DOLI website has had personnel file access on their website for some time.

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  2. Thank you for the comment. I visited the Department of Labor and Industry main website page on the post date and today. There is no reference to the Access to Personnel Records Law.

    You have stated there is a specialaized url address for the law. I would suggest that the Department either make refernce to the address or place Personnel Records Law Information on their main page. This would help the public get the information they need. Thank You Library. Rich Neumeister

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