Minnesota Department of Human Services / Minnesota ...



PERSONNEL DATA

Revised 08-08-02

I. STATUTORY REFERENCES AND DEFINITIONS

Minn. Stat. § 13.43 - Personnel Data

Minn. Stat. § 13.39 - Civil Investigation

Minn. Stat. § 13.46, subd. 3 - Civil Investigation

Minn. Stat. § 13.67 - Employee Relations Data

Minn. Stat. § 13.392 - Internal Audit Data

Personnel data is defined in the Data Practices Act (Minn. Stat. ' 13.43, subd. 1), to include data about:

• Paid employees

• Volunteers

• Private individuals under contract with the state or political subdivision

• Members of or applicants for advisory boards or commissions

• Applicants for employment positions

The provisions in this section do not apply to personnel of nonprofit agencies under contract with the welfare system and providing social services in the area of: mental health, physical health, counseling, day activity, and social services. Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0100, subpart 4

II. CLASSIFICATION

Certain personnel data is classified as public. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd 2 All other personnel data is classified as private data on individuals. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 4 The next segment gives more details about classification of personnel data.

III. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

A. APPLICANTS - The following data about applicants for public employment is public: veteran status; relevant test scores; rank on eligible list; job history; education and training; and work availability. The names of applicants are private data unless they are certified eligible for appointment to a vacancy, or are considered to be finalists for a position in public employment. A finalist is an applicant who has been selected for an interview. Names and home addresses of applicants for appointment to and members of an advisory board or commission are public. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 3

B. EMPLOYEES

1. General Public Data - The following data about government employees are public: name; employee identification number; actual gross salary; salary range; contract fees; actual gross pension; value and nature of employer paid fringe benefits; the basis for and the amount of any added remuneration, including expense reimbursement, in addition to salary; job title; job description; education and training background; previous work experience; date of first and last employment; the existence and status of any complaints or charges against the employee regardless of whether the complaint or charge resulted in disciplinary action; the final disposition of any disciplinary action together with the specific reasons for the action and data documenting the basis of the action, excluding data that would identify confidential sources who are employees of the public body; the terms of any agreement settling administrative or judicial proceedings (agreements involving the payment of $10,000 or more must include specific reasons for the agreement); work location; work telephone number; badge number; honors and awards received; payroll time sheets or other comparable data that is used only to account for employee's work time for payroll purposes, except to the extent that release of time sheet would reveal the employee's reasons for the use of sick leave or other medical leave or other private data; and city and county of residence. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(a).

2. Disciplinary Action Details Become Public Upon The Final Disposition of the Agency. "Final disposition" varies depending on the type of employee and other circumstances. For actions taken against unrepresented employees or employees who are public officials (as defined in Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(e)), final disposition occurs when the government agency makes its final decision about a disciplinary action regardless of the possibility of any later proceedings. For employees represented by a union, final disposition occurs at the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings arising under collective bargaining agreements. It is important to remember that certain data may be private or confidential at a particular period of time during an internal audit (Minn. Stat. § 13.392), agency investigation, or grievance procedure. Upon the agency's completion of investigation of a public official, the data becomes public. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd 2(e) If an employee who is represented by a union grieves the action and then resigns before a decision by an arbitrator, then the data gathered and maintained pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(a)(5), is private data.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF DATA ABOUT DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AGAINST STATE EMPLOYEES WHO ARE NOT PUBLIC OFFICIALS OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES. (Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(a)(5))

|EMPLOYEE STATUS |EMPLOYEE ACTION |DATA CLASSIFICATION |

|A. Covered by a |A1. Resigns before employer | |A.1. Private |

|collective |decides to impose discipline| | |

|bargaining agreement| | | |

| |A.2. Resigns after employer | |A.2. Public |

| |decides to impose discipline| | |

| |A.3. Does not grieve | |A.3. Public |

| |disciplinary action | | |

| |A.4. Grieves disciplinary |A.4.a. Resigns before |A.4.a. Private |

| |action |decision of arbitrator | |

| | |A.4.b. Disciplinary action |A.4.b. Private |

| | |not upheld | |

| | |A.4.c. Disciplinary action |A.4.c. Public |

| | |upheld | |

| | |A.4.d. Resigns after |A.4.d. Public |

| | |decision of arbitrator | |

|B. Not covered by a |B.1. Resigns before employer| |B.1. Private |

|collective |decides to impose discipline| | |

|bargaining agreement| | | |

| |B.2. Employer decides to | |B.2. Public |

| |impose discipline | | |

3. A person is not liable for releasing details of an employee's termination or settlement information if the information was private when the agreement was made but the information later became public under a law enacted after the agreement was made.

C. PRIVATE PERSONNEL DATA - Personnel data not specifically classified as public or confidential is considered private data, and may not be released except through consent of the employee, a valid court order, or statute. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 4 Some examples of private personnel data are an employee's home address, social security number, birth date, performance appraisals, medical data, and data about family. The following are also private data:

1. Data accumulated because the individual participates in employee assistance programs. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 7

2. Information which would reveal the identity of an undercover law enforcement officer. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 5

3. Data pertaining to an employee dependents Minn. Stat. §13.43, subd. 4

D. ACCESS BY LABOR UNIONS - (Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 6) Agencies may disseminate personnel data to the labor union if the responsible authority of the agency has provided the employee with a Notice of Privacy Practices, and the agency determines that the dissemination is necessary for the labor union to:

Conduct elections

Notify employees of fair share fee assessments

Implement the provisions of the Labor Relations Act and the Public Employee's Labor Relations Act (Minnesota Statutes, chapters 179 and 179A) which include enforcement of collective bargaining agreements and processing grievances.

DHS policy is for supervisors and managers who are uncertain whether to release private information to contact the Labor Relations Manager in the Human Resources Division to ascertain what information should be released. An agency has no duty to supply the union with not-public information unless it receives a request from the exclusive representative who represents employees in the employee's bargaining unit.

Information requested must be relevant to the exclusive representative's role in representing employees in the bargaining unit. The agency may charge the representative a fee for copies. If the information contains the identities of other individuals the information may be provided but only if the identities of the other individuals are deleted. When there are references to several individuals whose identities must be deleted, the reference should be replaced with a notation to which individual is referenced. Thus where there are references to three different individuals whose identity must be protected, references may refer to individual #1, individual #2, and #3 so that the narrative flow of the document is not destroyed.

The labor union generally does not have the right to access confidential or protected nonpublic data.

E. INVESTIGATIONS

Internal investigations of employee misconduct are confidential. Minn. Stat. § 13.39 or 13.46, subd. 6(a) Only the data necessary for the conduct of an investigation is confidential, not the whole employee personnel file. Data accumulated during an investigation may become public when the investigation becomes inactive unless it is classified not public by another statute. The data accumulated in an investigation may also become public if presented in court or an administrative hearing.

A photograph of a current or former employee may be shown to a prospective witness as part of the investigation of any complaint or charge against the employee. Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subd. 2(c) Labor unions may have access to investigative data in some situations. DHS managers or supervisors should contact the Labor Relations Manager in the Human Resources Division of DHS when a labor union has requested access to investigative data

F. INTERNS, STUDENT WORKERS, VOLUNTEERS - An agency is liable for breaches of data privacy breaches by interns, student workers, and volunteers. Therefore, it is important that interns, student workers, and volunteers receive the same data privacy training that regular staff receive. Data about interns, student workers, and volunteers is to be treated just like data about any other employee. Volunteers should be asked to sign a written agreement specifying what data within the agency volunteers have access to and the volunteers' responsibilities. The agency decides what data volunteers need in order to perform the job. However, there is a fine line between what volunteers need in order to function effectively and what is relevant to their function. Volunteers rarely need carte blanche authorization to view the client's entire file but should be given only that data on the particular client, event, or activity for which they are to provide services. The agency should consider what is the goal of the service that volunteers have been asked to perform and release information to them accordingly. It is suggested that agencies have volunteers sign a nondisclosure agreement to emphasize the importance of data privacy. This should probably be done in conjunction with data privacy training

G. DISSEMINATION OF DATA TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS-

Private personnel data, or data on employees that are confidential data under section 13.39, may be disseminated to a law enforcement agency for the purpose of:

1. reporting a crime or alleged crime committed by an employee, or

2. for the purpose of assisting law enforcement in the investigation of a crime committed or allegedly committed by an employee. Minn. Stat. §13.43, subd. 15

IV. CROSS REFERENCES WITH OTHER SECTIONS OF THE MANUAL

Investigations

Auditors

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download