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Guidelines for Local Personnel Files

UW and Washington State guidelines for the preservation and maintenance of records are very clear, and will not be reiterated here. For more information on these policies, please see the related links.

The following information pertains specifically to employee personnel files managed by College of Engineering Administrative Units, Departments and Programs. If you have specific questions regarding the management of personnel files in your unit, please contact the College's Human Resources Administrator.

  1. LOCAL FILES
    1. Must be kept in a secure, locked place
      1. Supervisor or higher should have access to employee file
      2. Leads or others who are technically not supervisors should not have access to the employee file
    2. Employees have a right to review their own personnel file
      1. Review should be supervised
      2. Review is not "on demand," but should be made by appointment
      3. There should be no surprises regarding the contents of the file
    3. Employees may place materials in the file, such as:
      1. Responses to performance evaluations
      2. Responses to corrective action
      3. Compliments received from customers and co-workers
    4. Employees may not remove contents from the personnel file
  2. ACCEPTABLE CONTENTS
    1. Copy of offer letter(s) and position descriptions
    2. Performance Evaluations (dating back three years only)
    3. Corrective Action (only that employee has knowledge of and has seen)
    4. Work and Leave documentation, such as 220's and leave requests
    5. Written letters of praise, awards, committee membership
    6. Employee Responses as noted above
    7. Documentation of Reclassifications, In-Grade Requests or other position changes
  3. UNACCEPTABLE CONTENTS (These should not be stored in the personnel file)
    1. NO side notes, documentation, or investigation notes unless they are part of a corrective action that has been seen by the employee.
    2. NO medical information - all medical information is maintained by Upper Campus Operations
    3. NO letters of external evaluation (or letters which quote them) related to promotion and tenure processes, or any other letters or documentation for which a promise of confidentiality has been made in order to receive candid feedback from the author. These documents should be stored separately, and are not considered a part of the personnel file.
  4. RETENTION OF FILE
    1. File must be kept until 3 years after employee separation
    2. Original 220's are the only contents of the personnel file that should be forwarded to another unit if an employee transfers to another unit within the UW
    3. No performance evaluations older than 3 years should be in any (active or separated) employee file
    4. Refer to Records Management Services for specific concerns about retention

Contact Human Resources

Lisa Drechsler
Human Resources Administrator
drechslr@u.washington.edu
(206) 543-3354

Summer Duncan-Korst
Human Resources Manager
summerd@uw.edu
(206) 616-9808

Alex Finlon
HR Administrative Assistant
afinlon@uw.edu
(206) 616-2604

Dean's Office Staff Directory »

Related Links

Administrative Policy Statement 57.11

RCW 40.14

Records Management Services

Community of Innovators

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Nominate a student, faculty or staff member who makes exceptional and meaningful contributions to the College.
Nominations due 5 p.m. March 1.

Nominees and awardees will be honored at the Community of Innovators Awards reception.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013
3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
Paul G. Allen Center,
Microsoft Atrium.

More about the awards »