Does a terminated employee have the right to their employment file and all the contents in it?

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Does a terminated employee have the right to their employment file and all the contents in it?

Is an employer obligated to release it if asked for?

Asked on February 13, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Utah

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

No, the employer is not obligated to release your employment file to you, even if they terminated you. The file is not really "your" file--it is the company's property, even if it happens to be about you, and they do not need to share it with you unless they chose to do so.

Should you sue the company, then in the course of the lawsuit, you could use the legal mechanism of "discovery" (for example, document requests; written interrogatories) to gain access to the file; however, there is no way to do so outside of the litigation context.


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