Effective Date: May 8, 2023
Issuing Authority: Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance
Policy Contact: Associate Vice President for Human Resources, HR@mercer.edu, 478-301-2786
Purpose
The University maintains personnel information for each employee in order to have a complete, accurate and current record of the employee’s salary and job history at the University. The Human Resources Office maintains the official employee file for all faculty and staff and the contents of the file are considered confidential and are the exclusive property of Mercer University.
Scope
This policy applies to all employees of Mercer University.
Exclusions
None
Definitions
As used in this policy, the following term has the meaning specified below:
Employee: any faculty (including, but not limited to, regular, visiting, or adjunct), any individual who has an appointment at the University, and all regular and temporary staff. Student employee records are not maintained by Human Resources.
Policy Statement
An employee’s official employee file generally includes such information as the application for employment, resume, transcripts (if applicable), appointment letters, position assignments, transfers, promotions, evaluations, correspondence, disciplinary actions, etc., and may be a hybrid of both paper and electronic records. As required by law, some records pertaining to employees are maintained in separate files.
To ensure that the employee’s file is up to date, the employee should notify Human Resources of any change of name, address, telephone number, or any other relevant personal data, as soon as such a change occurs.
Current employees who wish to review their file, must submit a written request to the Human Resources office. Upon receipt of the written request, Human Resources will schedule an appointment for the employee to view their file in the Human Resources office during regular office hours. Employees are not permitted to remove any documents from their file but may provide a written response to any document in the file. Written responses will be attached to the original document and placed in the employee’s file. Current employees may submit a written request to Human Resources for copies of documents in their file and will be charged a reasonable fee for reproduction. Former employees do not have access to their personnel file after their employment ends.
University officers, deans, department heads, supervisors, human resource professionals, investigators, representatives of the Office of the General Counsel or other University personnel with a business need to do so, may review an employee file upon request and demonstration of the business need.
The information contained in official employee files may be used to respond to inquiries from third parties about former or current employees. The Human Resources office is responsible for providing responses to these types of requests and will only confirm dates of employment and positions held. Release of more specific information is at the sole discretion of the University and may be provided as required by law or upon receipt of a detailed written release signed by the employee. All subpoenas served to obtain information contained in university employee files must be directed to the Office of the General Counsel.