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25 Lab. L.J. 270 (1974)
The Confidentiality of Personnel Records: A Legal and Ethical View

handle is hein.journals/labljo25 and id is 272 raw text is: The Confidentiality of Personnel Records: A Legal and Ethical View By MORDECHAI MIRONI* The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.-Mr. Justice William 0. Douglas' W HEN AN EMPLOYEE'S personnel records are in the hands of his employer one might assume they are confidential. One might base this assumption on the legal privilege held by physicians, lawyers, clergymen and others. Like these persons, an employer may possess confidential information and one may imagine that a personnel manager, too, should have a duty not to disclose it. In fact, the whole issue might seem so clear that only academicians would debate the extent of the privilege. Yet, the two spontaneous assumptions are both wrong. The issue is really a practical question of great import to both employers and employees. And surprisingly, according to present legal doctrine, the personnel records of employees are not confidential at all. To the best of my knowledge the issue has been entirely neglected in professional literature. Therefore, it will be the purpose of this article to emphasize the importance, the practical nature, and the seri- ousness of the problem at present. This will be contrasted against the complicated and ineffectual devices the law presently offers to protect the individual employee. Finally, some new methods will be suggested in order to protect the employee against unwarranted dissemination of information in his personnel file. Confidentiality of Personnel Records- Definitions and Scope of Study Definitions Personnel records refer to all recorded information about employees kept by an employer, usually in the form of and under the name per- sonnel files. Files may include medical reports, criminal records, counseling protocols, and personal inventories. One writer has given just a taste of the thoroughness with which some organizations keep such files: *The author gratefully acknowledges Mr. Stephen D. Gordon for his research contribution and Mr. Timothy D. Kelly for his valuable editorial assistance. 'Public Utilities Commissioner v. Pollack, 393 U. S. 451, 467 (1952). May, 1974 * Labor Law Journal 270

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