I. Rule

The Human Resources Department will maintain personnel records for current and past employees. The Associate Vice President for Human Resources  is the designated custodian of such records.  The privacy of employee records is protected by North Carolina General Statutes 115D-27 through 115D-30.

II. Regulations

A. Privacy of Employee Records

All information in an employee's personnel file not specified in Section 4.34 B. is confidential and is not made available for inspection except to the following persons:

1. The supervisor of the employee, which includes any individual or board in the chain of administrative authority above the employee and members of a hearing panel trying to resolve a grievance of the employee.

2. Members of the General Assembly by the authority of G.S. 120-19.

3. A party by authority of a proper court order.

4. An official of an agency of the federal, state, or local government when the Associate Vice President for Human Resources determines that the record sought is necessary and essential to the pursuance of a proper function of the requesting agency. However, confidential information from an employee's personnel file shall not be released to a government official to assist in a criminal prosecution or in a tax investigation.

5. The employee or a person designated in writing by the employee as his/her agent.  However, an employee or his/her agent may not be given access to letters of reference solicited before employment or to information concerning a medical disability that the physician furnishing the information has indicated not be disclosed to the employee. An employee may designate, in writing, a licensed physician to whom the medical record can be disclosed.

6. Any person needing specified information in an emergency if the employee has consented to emergency release of information.

Any person requesting access to confidential information will be required to submit satisfactory proof of identity to the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.  The College maintains in each employee's personnel file a record of disclosure of confidential information, except disclosures to the employee and to supervisors.

B. Information Available to the Public

The following information about each employee is available to any person during regular business hours from the Associate Vice President for Human Resources :

1. Name.

2. Age.

3. Date of original employment.

4. Current position and title.

5. Current salary.

6. Date and amount of most recent increase or decrease in salary.

7. Date of most recent promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, reclassification, or separation.

Any person examining this information may request copies from the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.  The College also maintains a record of disclosures of public information except for disclosure due to routine credit checks or processing of personnel records.  The record of disclosure includes the name of the employee, the information disclosed, the date the information was requested, the name and address of the person to whom the information use disclosed, and the purpose for which the information was requested.  Records of disclosures are kept for two years from date of disclosure and are discarded after that time.  An employee may have access to the record of disclosure that pertains to him/her.

C. Employee Inspection of Records

Any employee may inspect the contents of his/her personnel file by making a request to the Human Resources Department.  Such inspection must take place in the Human Resources Department, and documents may not be removed from the file temporarily or permanently without written permission from the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.

1. The employee may examine the file in its entirety except for letters of reference solicited regarding employment and information concerning a medical disability that the physician furnishing the information has restricted from disclosure to the employee.

2. If an employee objects to material in the file, the employee may seek to have the material removed through the grievance procedure set out in Section 4.32 of this manual.  An employee may also place in the file a statement about the material the employee considers to be inaccurate or misleading.

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