H. B. 4504
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Perdue, Hrutkay,
Amores, Caputo, Fragale and Iaquinta)
[Introduced February 17, 2004
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §21-3-21, relating to
providing that all employees have the right to review and copy
the contents of their personnel file.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That
the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §21-3-21,
to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. SAFETY AND WELFARE OF EMPLOYEES.
§21-3-21. Right of employees to review and copy personnel file.
Every employee, whether public or private, has the right to
review and to one copy of portions or the entire contents of his or
her personnel file. In the event additional information or
documents are added to an employee's personnel file, the employee
has the right to review and copy the additional information at the
employer's expense. If additional copies of the same material
previously copied is requested, the employer may require a charge
of twenty-five cents per page of additional material copied. For purposes of this section, the term "personnel file" means the
compilation of information that is maintained or stored, at an
employer's or employer's agent's direction, in any manner or means
whatsoever, and which information has been compiled due to the
employee's employment status with the employer.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give all employees the
right to review and copy their respective personnel files at
employer's expense.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.