Personnel Records

Personnel Records

Policy Statement

Employee files are maintained by the Human Resources department and are considered confidential, except as governed by NC General Statute 115D-27-30 for community college employees. Durham Technical Community College (Durham Tech) department/division heads and supervisors, other than designated human resources representatives, may only have access to personnel file information on a need-to-know basis. Department/division heads or supervisors considering the hire of a former employee or transfer of a current employee may be granted access to the employee’s file.

Procedure

A personnel file consists of any information gathered by Durham Tech relating to an employee's application, selection or non-selection, promotion, demotion, transfer, leave, salary, suspension, performance evaluation, disciplinary action, or termination of employment wherever located or in whatever form.

Personnel files of current or former employees of the Board of Trustees or applicants for employment with the Board of Trustees shall not be subject to inspection and examination as authorized by NC General Statute 132-6. However, the following employee information is available for the general public’s inspection:

• Name;

• Age;

• Date of original employment or appointment;

• Terms of any contract by which the employee is employed whether written or oral, past or present, to the extent that the Board of Trustees has the written contract or a record of the oral contract in its possession;

• Current position;

• Title;

• Current salary (including pay, benefits, incentives, bonuses, and deferred and all other forms of compensation paid by the college);

• Date and amount of each increase or decrease in salary;

• Date and type of each promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, separation, or other change in position classification;

• Date and general description of the reasons for each promotion;

• Date and type of each dismissal, suspension, or demotion for disciplinary reasons and a copy of the written notice of the final decision of the Board of Trustees setting forth the specific acts or omissions committed if the disciplinary action was a dismissal; and

• Office or station to which the employee is currently assigned.

These records may be inspected, examined, and copied during regular business hours. All other information contained in a personnel file, except as otherwise provided for in this policy, is confidential and shall not be open for inspection and examination except to the following persons and in the following circumstances:

• The employee, applicant for employment, former employee, or his/her properly authorized agent may examine his/her own personnel file at all reasonable times in its entirety except for letters of reference solicited prior to employment;

• The president and other supervisory personnel;

• Members of the Board of Trustees and the Board's attorney;

• A party by authority of a subpoena or proper court order may inspect and examine a particular confidential portion of an employee's personnel file; and

• An official of an agency of the federal government, state government, or any political subdivision thereof. Such an official may inspect any personnel records when the college deems such an inspection as necessary and essential to the proper function of said agency provided, however, that such information shall not be divulged for purposes of assisting in a criminal prosecution, nor for purposes of assisting in a tax investigation.

Exception: The president may, in his sole discretion, or at the direction of the Board of Trustees, inform any person or corporation of any promotion, demotion, suspension, reinstatement, transfer, separation, dismissal, employment or non-employment of any applicant, employee or former employee employed by or assigned to the Board of Trustees or whose personnel file is maintained by the Board and the reasons therefore, and may allow the personnel file or any portion to be inspected and examined by any person or corporation provided that the Board has determined that the release, inspection, or examination of the information is essential to maintaining the integrity of the Board or to maintaining the level or quality of services provided by the Board. Prior to releasing the information or making the file or any portion available as provided herein, the president shall prepare a memorandum setting forth the information to be disclosed and the circumstances which he or she and the Board identify as warranting the disclosure. This memorandum will be retained in the files of the president and shall be a public record.

Change of Employee’s Information

Employees must report any change of status to Human Resources and the Business Office as soon as possible. Employees should use the Change of Personal Information form (available via the Employees shared folder or by request from Human Resources) for changes in name, contact information, marital status, dependents, or any other personnel change from the records established upon employment. Health, life insurance, and retirement records should also be revised after a change of status. These revisions are handled through the Business Office.

North Carolina Community College System Records Retention and Disposition Schedule

The North Carolina Community College System Records Retention and Disposition Schedule is a tool for the employees of the community colleges across North Carolina to use when managing the records in their offices. It lists records commonly found in college offices and gives an assessment of their value by indicating how long those records should be retained. This schedule is also an agreement between the North Carolina Community College System and the State Archives of North Carolina.

The schedule serves as the inventory and schedule that the State Archives of North Carolina is directed by G.S. § 121-5(c) and G.S. § 132-8 to provide. It supersedes all previous editions, including all amendments.