5-803: Access to Employee Records

Purpose

To set forth the policy for accessing employee records.

Authority

• Sacramento County Executive Officer. 

Scope

This policy applies to all departments in the County.

Policy

All employee personnel records maintained by the Department of Personnel Management shall be considered as confidential in nature. They may be made available to employees, department heads or supervisors only with the approval of the Director of the Department of Personnel Management. 

1. An employee’s application for retirement becomes the basis for releasing information from the employees’ records to the Retirement Administrator as necessary to process the retirement application. 
2. An appeal to the Civil Service Commission becomes the basis for releasing the employees’ records to the Commission or to a Hearing Officer as needed during the hearing. 

The Personnel Actions Section of the Department of Personnel Management is the repository for the official employee personnel files for all Sacramento County employees. The Personnel System Supervisor is the designated custodian of these records. 

Each employee is entitled to review the contents of their employee record. This review extends to all documents contained in the personnel/payroll file. The employee records included the automated personnel master file. A copy of this master file is provided for the employee on each occasion when a change is made in the master file. The designated representative of the employee may also be authorized to access to the employee’s file. Where the employee designates a representative such designation must be in writing. 

Employee personnel files may be reviewed in the Department of Personnel Management, 901 G Street, Room 226. Office hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Records are only available for review during these periods. 

In the event copies of employee records are needed in connection with official personnel actions such as appeals before the Civil Service Commission or in connection with the grievance process such copies may be obtained without expense to the employee. 

The employee roster card is a permanent record. All other records will be considered as temporary in nature and may be destroyed after a period of 3 years. However, the records of an employee with a work incurred injury will be retained for a period of 5 years. 

Correspondence or documents may be removed from the employee record only upon approval of the Director of the Department of Personnel Management. Documents may be removed for reasons such as: 

1. Subpoena (The original copy of the record is released and a Xerox copy is maintained until the original copy is returned.) 
2. Grievance decision or arbitration award 
3. Court order 

A list of eligibles on which an employee’s name may appear is not classified as a part of the employee’s record. Only the employee’s position number and rank of a list of eligibles will be released to the employee. Access to detailed information about a list of eligibles to include the names with position and rank on the list of other candidates is not available to the employees. 

Verification of employment with Sacramento County will be provided by the Department of Personnel Management. Such requests must be in writing on letterhead stationery or made at the department in person by providing identification and indication of reason of need. Information disclosed by the department will be restricted to the name of the employee, the date employment started, where the position is permanent or temporary, salary, and if no longer employed the date of termination and last known address. 

Official department personnel records maintained on employees by agencies and department are also subject to review by the employee or designated representative.​