Confidentiality of Personnel Files in the Private Sector
![handle is hein.journals/davlr15 and id is 485 raw text is: Confidentiality of Personnel
Files in the Private Sector
The Privacy Act of 1974 guarantees the confidentiality of federal
agency personnel files. Currently, however, there is no similar pro-
tection of private sector personnel files. This comment examines
the confidentiality of these personnel files and concludes that the
Privacy Act should be extended to the private sector.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, employers have collected, stored, and dis-
closed an enormous amount of personal data about their em-
ployees.1 An increasing variety of uses for this information has
evolved.' Under current law,3 private sector employers may dis-
close part or all of this information without notice to, or consent
of, the subject employee.
I See PRIVACY PROTECTION STUDY COMM'N, PERSONAL PRIVACY IN AN INFOR-
MATION SOCIETY app. 3 (EMPLOYMENT RECORDS) 9-21 (1977) [hereinafter cited
as PPSC REPORT]. Congress created the Privacy Protection Study Commission
to study the information practices of governmental and private organizations
and to determine what protections are needed for individuals. The Commission
has found that the workplace has become a repository of personal informa-
tion. Id. at 10. This report describes the numerous types of information gath-
ered, kept, and used by employers. These include interviewer evaluations,
medical records, skill tests, payroll information, personal information, insur-
ance claims, security, performance evaluations, and promotion tables. Id. at 9-
21. See also A. MILLER, THE ASSAULT ON PRIVACY 205-06 (1971) (noting a gen-
eral increase in information-gathering throughout society).
2 See, e.g., Note, Privacy of Information in Florida Public Employee Per-
sonnel Files, 27 U. FLA. L. REV. 481 (1975). Florida public sector employers
maintain information ranging from very personal to routine. Id. at 501. Private
employers use personnel information in deciding whether to hire, fire, place,
transfer, promote, demote, train, discipline, and provide full or partial bene-
fits. PPSC REPORT, supra note 1, app. 3 at 15. These uses, which are funda-
mental to the employment relationship, make interorganizational exchange of
information on people particularly significant. Berg & Salvate, Record-Keep-
ing and Corporate Employees, in ON RECORD: FILES AND DossIERS IN AMERI-
CAN LIFE 177, 186-88, 192 (S. Wheeler ed. 1969).
See notes 7-9 and accompanying text infra.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/davlr15&div=22&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Confidentiality of Personnel Files in the Private Sector
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most