An Act Regarding an Employee's Access to Personnel Files
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0883
Committee: Labor
Sponsors: MILLS, HATCH, SMITH
Amends: 26 MRSA §631

Legislative Document 
No. 883 
H.P.660 
House of Representatives, February 20, 2003 
An Act Regarding an Employee's Access to Personnel Files 
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative MILLS of Farmington. 
71/~1?1·mO£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: HATCH of Skowhegan, SMITH of Van Buren. 
Printed on re(;ycJed pa~r 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §631, as amended by PL 1999, c. 235, §1, is 
further amended to read: 
§631. 
Employee riqht to review personnel file 
The employer shall, upon written request from an employee or 
former employee, provide the employee, former employee or duly 
authorized representative with an opportunity to review and copy 
the employee's personnel file if the employer has a personnel 
file for that employee. 
The reviews and copying must take place 
at the location where the personnel files are maintained and 
during normal office hours unless, at the employer's discretion, 
a 
more 
convenient 
time 
and 
location 
for 
the 
employee 
are 
arranged. 
The cost of copying is paid by the person requesting 
the copy. 
For the purpose of this section, 
a personnel file 
includes, but is not limited to, any formal or informal employee 
evaluations and reports relating to the employee's character, 
credit, work habits, compensation and benefits and nonprivileged 
medical records or nurses' station notes relating to the employee 
that the employer has in the employer's possession. 
Records in a 
personnel file may be maintained in any form including paper, 
microfiche or electronic form. 
The employer shall take adequate 
steps 
to 
ensure 
the 
integrity 
and 
confidentiality of 
these 
records. 
An employer maintaining records in a form other than 
paper shall have available to the employee, former employee or 
duly authorized representative the equipment necessary to review 
and copy the personnel file. 
Any 
employer 
who, 
following 
a 
request pursuant to this section, without good cause fails to 
provide an opportunity for review and copying of a 
personnel 
file, within 10 days of receipt of that request, is subject to a 
e~v~l--~F~i~~Fe penalty of $25 for each day that a 
failure 
continues. 
The total 
:EeF:Ee~t:~Fe penalty may not exceed $500. 
The court shall award any penalty levied and collected under this 
section to the employee or former employee whose records were 
withheld in violation of this section. 
An 
employee, 
former 
employee or the Department of Labor may bring an action in the 
Distr ict Court or the Superior Court for such equitable relief, 
including 
an 
injunction, 
as 
the 
court 
may 
consider 
to 
be 
necessary and proper. 
The employer 
may also be 
required to 
reimburse the employee, 
former 
employee or the Department of 
Labor for costs of suit including a reasonable attorney's fee if 
the 
employee 
or 
the 
department 
receives 
a 
judgment 
in the 
employee's or department's favor, respectively. 
For the purposes 
of this section, 
the 
term 
"nonprivileged medical 
records 
or 
nurses' station notes" means all those materials that have not 
been found to be protected from discovery or disclosure in the 
course 
of civil litigation under 
the 
Maine 
Rules 
of Civil 
Procedure, Rule 26, the Maine Rules of Evidence, Article V or 
Page l-LR1207(1) 
similar rules adopted by the Workers' Compensation Board or other 
administrative tribunals. 
SUMMARY 
Current law requires an employer, upon written request by an 
employee or former employee, to make available that employee's or 
former employee's personnel file within 10 days of receipt of the 
request. 
An 
employer 
who 
fails 
to 
comply is subject to 
a 
forfeiture of $25 per day, up to a maximum forfeiture of $500. 
This bill requires the court to award the wronged employee 
the amount collected from the employer for failure to comply.