§ 8-2-129 — Access to personnel files and records - definitions - exemptions

Colorado § 8-2-129

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 08: Labor and
• Art.: Labor Relations, Generally

Text

(1) Every employer shall, at least annually, upon the request of an employee, permit
that employee to inspect and obtain a copy of any part of his or her own personnel
file or files at the employer's office and at a time convenient to both the employer
and the employee. A former employee may make one inspection of his or her
personnel file after termination of employment. An employer may restrict the
employee's or former employee's access to his or her files to be only in the
presence of a person responsible for managing personnel data on behalf of the
employer or another employee designated by the employer. The employer may
require the employee or former employee to pay the reasonable cost of duplication
of documents.

(2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) Employee does not include a person employed by an entity subject to
the Colorado Open Records Act, part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S.

(b) Employer does not include any entity subject to the Colorado Open
Records Act, part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S.

(c) Personnel file means the personnel records of an employee, in the
manner maintained by the employer and using reasonable efforts by the employer
to collect, that are used or have been used to determine the employee's
qualifications for employment, promotion, additional compensation, or employment
termination or other disciplinary action. Personnel file does not include
documents or records required to be placed or maintained in a separate file from
the regular personnel file by federal or state law or rule; documents or records
pertaining to confidential reports from previous employers of the employee; or an
active criminal investigation, an active disciplinary investigation by the employer, or
an active investigation by a regulatory agency. Personnel file also does not
include any information in a document or record that identifies any person who
made a confidential accusation, as determined by the employer, against the
employee who makes a request under subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Nothing in this section:

(a) Creates or authorizes a private cause of action by a person aggrieved by a
violation of this section;

(b) Requires an employer to create, maintain, or retain a personnel file on an
employee or former employee; or

(c) Requires an employer to retain any documents that are or were contained
in an employee's or former employee's personnel file for any specified period of
time.

(4) This section does not apply to a financial institution chartered and
supervised under state or federal law, including without limitation:

(a) A bank;

(b) A trust company;

(c) A savings institution; and

(d) A credit union.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2016: Entire section added, (HB 16-1432), ch. 311, p. 1253, � 2, effective January 1, 2017.