Opinion ID: 476349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: retaliatory discharge: personnel file

Text: 32 The Bullard-Plawecki Employee Right-to-Know Act, Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. Sec. 423.501 et seq., requires an employer in Michigan to give an employee access to the employee's personnel record upon written request. See Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. Sec. 423.503. The jury was permitted to find that plaintiff was discharged in retaliation for her request to examine her personnel record. We find no violation of the statute, and no evidence that plaintiff was discharged for this reason. 33 Plaintiff failed to show that her discharge was in any way in retaliation for her request to see her personnel file. Plaintiff requested to see her personnel file on May 9, 1979. Waterbury told her that he needed to check with the home office about the proper procedure. He received instructions from the home office and plaintiff was given access to her file on May 23, 1979. The statute does not provide for any time period within which access must be given after a request is made. Plaintiff points to no statements or actions by defendant that indicate that her suspension on May 10, 1979, and subsequent discharge, were in any way linked to her request to see her personnel file. Rather, she seems to rely merely on the timing of her request and her discharge as evidence that defendant improperly discharged her in retaliation for her request. We find that this timing alone, without further evidence of an improper motive or action on defendant's part and where other events intervene, is insufficient to support a finding that defendant's decision to discharge plaintiff was in retaliation for her request to review her personnel file.