Handbook of Operating Procedures > Series 400 Budget, Finance and Operations > 4.16.1 Personnel Records

4.16.1 Personnel Records

A. Purpose

This policy provides standards for the creation, protection, maintenance, and storage of official employment records for all employees of the University of Texas at Tyler (UTT)

B. Authority/Persons Affected

Texas Government Code Chapter 552 Texas Public Information Act

Persons affected: This policy applies to all employees of the UTT.

C. Definitions

Personnel File: Information collected, assembled, or maintained by the Office of Human Resources documenting the status and history of an employee’s relationship with UTT.

D. Policy

This policy provides standards for the creation, protection, maintenance, and storage of official employment records for all employees of the University of Texas at Tyler (UTT)

1. Content and Maintenance of Employment Records
   
   1. All employment records should be submitted to the Office of Human Resources for maintenance. Duplicate files or copies maintained outside the Office of Human Resources are not considered to be official employment records.  All department copies should be sent to the Office of Human Resources upon employee’s separation from employment at the UTT.  Certain Official Faculty documents are maintained in the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs.
   2. Employees are required to timely report changes in their personal information via available human resources information systems.
   3. All employment records, including benefits and medical records, will be maintained securely and access will be restricted based on the content of each record.
   4. All employment records are to be kept for the minimum periods listed in the Records Retention Schedule in accordance with policy. Notwithstanding such minimum retention periods, all records must be maintained until all required audits are completed and should be retained beyond the listed retention periods where there is a pending open records request or probability of litigation either involving records or requiring their use.
2. Access to the Employment Record.  The personnel file includes all information collected, assembled or maintained by UTT relevant to the employment relationship of the individual with UTT.
   1. All information in the personnel file of an individual is available upon request by that individual employee or the employee’s designated representative for inspection and duplication. Employees should direct all requests for access to their personnel files in writing to the Office of Human Resources.  Employment records will be made available within a reasonable time after a request and during standard business hours.
   2. Appropriate UTT personnel, as set by the administrative head of each office maintaining personnel records, may access employee personnel records on an as-needed basis for business purposes. Any employee designated to access personnel records may disclose the information accessed only when there is a business need for such disclosure. 
   3. Information in employee personnel files may be released (a) in compliance with a judicial order or subpoena, and (b) to representatives of state or federal agencies pursuant to authority granted to them by statute or regulations. 
   4. The following employee personnel data are considered public information under the Texas Public Information Act: name, sex, ethnicity, salary, title, and dates of employment.
   5. Each employee or former employee of the UTT can choose whether to allow public access to information such as: home address, home telephone number, social security number, emergency contact information, and information that reveals whether a person has family members.  An employee must update their data privacy elections requesting that any or all of the listed information in section e. be withheld from public access if the employee so desires such an action via the human resource information system.
   6. The release of information in personnel files, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, is prohibited to all other individuals without the written consent of the individual employees or as required by law. 
3. These policies and procedures are in conformity with the Texas Public Information Act (Act) and the Open Records Decisions issued by the Texas Attorney General pursuant to the Act.

E. Review

This policy shall be reviewed by the Office Human Resources every five years or as legislation changes.