Angry former Employee California

[SVA]

Today we received a request letter from a former employee (A) for their personal file, another employee's (B) file, phone conversation tapes, and incident reports involving this employee A and the employee B.
Employee A was terminated based on violations of company polices and after formal warnings of their performance.

Employee B was involved in an heated exchange with employee A, unrelated to the grounds of termination.

I think I know the answer, but can employee A request the items w/o a subpoena? I believe employee A is trying to build a case against employee B and that she was wrongful terminated because of employee B. Thanks!

[DAW]

Anyone can "request" anything. I can request that your company give me a million dollars. However I can think of no legal reason what-so-ever why your company would want to give one employee a different employee's file unless a court told you to.

[BSPCPA]

I think I know the answer...

If you think you are the target of a lawsuit, you should retain a labor lawyer in your are for specific, ongoing advice. In the meantime, a few to chew on:

1. California residents have a constitutional right to privacy. Consider this carefully before giving one employee access to another employee's personnel file.

2. An employee is generally NOT entitled to a copy of his/her personnel file - only access to it. An employee is, however, entitled to receive copies of documents he/she signed.