Confidential Human Resource Records - Essay Example

Confidential Human Resource Records Introduction Bio-sports is an organization related to sports. Thecompany is facing severe myriad of privacy issues. The company’s board of directors and management need to address those issues in the light of federal and state laws with the support of theoretical evidences. This report presents a detailed overview of human resource employee records and their privacy matters along with the solution of the issues as stated in state legislation and supported on theoretical grounds. The Human Resource Employee Record consists of sensitive information of employees related to job performance, personal contacts, employment history, academic documents, compensation details, etc. These files could be found in the form of electronic data or paper. The human resource department is highly responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of employee records. The employee records can be divided into three types including personnel file, payroll files, and employee medical file. The data is entailed personnel file includes a job application, contact information, resumes, copy of appointment letter, performance record, etc. The payroll file contains a history on employee compensation record, loans, incentives, etc. The employee medical record is kept under extreme security as it contains employee health record and medical check-up history. The confidentiality of these records is of prime importance. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) demands confidentiality of the information related to employee health insurance given by the employer. Similarly the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ensure the confidentiality of employee health and medical record. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) recommends that HR personnel should implement practices for assuring confidentiality by making separate files for keeping each record. The access to these files must be granted under specific conditions (“The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” 1). In Ohio, there is no law, which allows an employer to permit an employee the access to his or her personnel record. However, there are two exceptions in which the employee could access the information under specific conditions mentioned in Ohio State law. According to Ohio Revised Code 4113.23(A) the organization, hospital, laboratory or employer is liable to furnish the medical record to the employees related to themselves on their request. This section of the law is applicable on all types of physical examinations and laboratory tests, which the employer requires at the time of induction. However, if the physician considers disclosing the medical information of the employee to the employer may result in harm to the employee then, the physician should mention this in written in the medical record of the employee (Smith 27). According to Ohio Revised Code 4111.14(G) employees can access their wages record on submitting a written request to the employer. The employer can provide the following information to the employee or the related representative Name, occupation, residential address, payment rates, annual salary (except bonuses, incentives and other forms of compensation), gross wages per pay period and working hours in each day (Ohio Laws 1). In conditions in which an employee is fired, the comments made to the future employer should be restricted to suspicion. It is not lawful to directly state the employee charges for being fired to the prospective employer when making reference. It is crucial that whatever suspicion is showed it should be supported with proper evidences. It is also recommended that the employer statements should be made in good faith. The employer should conduct through investigation for the stated blame on the employee before giving any statement. It is also advised that the employer should not exaggerate the real status of an employee in giving a statement. Another important concern related to reference statement making in case of an employee who is fired is to make sure that the information is only disclosed to the concerned authorities. However, unnecessary sharing of information is strictly not allowed (“Balancing requirements and restrictions when providing employment references” 50). The stakeholders in the current scenario are the leaders and management personnel of the organization and the employees working under them. The confidentiality issues are important for both the employers as well as for the employees. The employer is responsible for ensuring the privacy of employee personnel record; therefore, in case of leakage of the data the HR management and employer are answerable. In the case of any harm to the employee resulted due to confidentiality breach of the information, the employer will be required to compensate for any loss incurred. Therefore, prevention of confidentiality breach is a prime concern for the employers. From the point of view of employees who are also the stakeholders of the company, any missing or leaked information may cause direct or indirect harm to the employee. The employees may have to face organizational politics and biases due to lack of privacy of the information. Hence, from both sides confidentiality maintenance is crucial and integral in an organization. In the US, information breaches have become very common and have impacted thousands of employees and the employers. Several instances have been reported for the stealing of laptops and system hacking. In order to prevent this, the employers need to track the personal identifying information of the employees. The maintenance and protection of this information is a serious legal matter, which has to be addressed by following the state law. Different states have adopted the identity theft legislation for ensuring the protection of employee personal information. The identity theft is a crime in which the culprit accesses the identity of the other persons to open counterfeit accounts. The information that could be misused for this purpose includes social security number, date of birth or any other data, which is personal and individual for a person. According to Ohio Revised Codes 2913.49 any person cannot use or own the identification information of the other person for achieving any benefit or gain. A person who commits such a crime is subjected to eleven years in jail. The law also asserts that if the victim suffered financial loss as a result of identity theft then he/she should be recompensed by the criminal (Sember 317). Confidentiality and Ethical Theory Employee monitoring and searching is also conducted under specific laws. The ethical theory and confidentiality theory also support employee’s right of confidentiality. In the case of O’Connor v. Ortega the US Supreme Court asserted that the employee privacy expectation should be analyzed with respect to the employment relation. The employees must have some concerns about the confidentiality of their personal information. Wisconsin reported a case of confidentiality breach by stating that his partner opened the sealed personal correspondence by breaching his privacy and accessing his belongings. In the case of HR Confidential records, only specific members should be allowed to access the confidential information about the employees. Not all HR personnel should be given access to the confidential employee information (Riccucci 206). Policy Making The Human Resource department should make clear policies based on the ethical theories and critical findings. The research has indicated different perspectives for identifying the importance of the confidentiality maintenance in an organization. A very clear and descriptive policy should be formulated based on the requirements that entail thorough details about the personnel who can access the information. It should also state how HR department would manage the privacy of employee records and that steps will be taken in case of confidentiality breach (Meshanko 25). The HR department should clearly mention the procedures for securing the electronic data from leaking as well as the information in black and white. The employee information files should be kept in lock and key by the HR department. Data that is available on the computer should be password protected. Unauthorized people should not have any access to the computer systems and the cabinets in which files are kept. This is also important that not only the individuals outside the organization have no right to see employee records; the irrelevant managers of other departments and employees working in other areas must not be able to retrieve any of the employee information. The most sensitive information after employee personal data is the medical and health information. As stated under different federal and state laws such as ADA, HIPAA, GINA and FMLA, the health records of employees should be kept separately. The employer should take a written consent from the employee for allowing the access to the medical information to certain individuals in specified conditions. The HR department also contains the employee investigation record, which includes complaints of harassment, misconduct, discipline issues, safety concerns, mutiny, etc. Information included in this record is witness statements, meeting notes, complaint summary, emails, memos, etc. In this case the employer has a complete right to decide the name of individuals who can see the information and who cannot. Agreement form of the employee is not required in this type of information sharing. However, the HR department and employer should ensure prohibition of unnecessary sharing of the information and exploitation. The HR record confidentiality policy should be revised after an assigned period and changes can be made based on the situation. However, no employer can deviate from the federal laws and the Ohio state law governing the confidentiality and privacy of employee information. Works Cited Meshanko, Paul. The Respect Effect. New York: Dog Ear Publishing, 2012. Print. Ohio Laws. Implementing constitutional minimum wage authority. 2014. Web. 22 October 2014 . Riccucci, Norma. Public Personnel Administration and Labor Relations. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. Print. Sember, Brette McWhorter. The Complete Credit Repair Kit. Naper Vile: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2008. Print. Smith, Robert Ellis. Compilation of State and Federal Privacy Laws. New York: Privacy Journal, 2002. "The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission." 2014. Web. 22 October 2014 . “Balancing requirements and restrictions when providing employment references”. 25 May 2012. Web. 22 October 2014 . Read More