A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT providing for open records by requiring the release of letters of recommendation, DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS, and other career information pertaining to state employees and giving state employees the right to inspect their own personnel file in its entirety.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 126‑22(a)(3) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Except as provided in G.S. 126‑23 and G.S. 126‑24,  personnel files of State employees shall not be subject to inspection and examination as authorized by G.S. 132‑6.
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(3)	"Personnel file" means any employment‑related, retirement benefits‑related, or personal information gathered by an employer, the Retirement Systems Division of the Department of State Treasurer, or by the Office of State Personnel. Employment‑related information contained in a personnel file includes information related to an individual's application, letters of recommendation, selection, promotion, demotion, transfer, leave, salary, contract for employment, benefits, suspension, performance evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination. Personal information contained in a personnel file includes an individual's home address, social security number, medical history, personal financial data, marital status, dependents, and beneficiaries."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 126‑23 reads as rewritten:
"§ 126‑23.  Certain records to be kept by State agencies open to inspection.
Each department, agency, institution, commission and bureau of the State shall maintain a record of each of its employees, showing the following information with respect to each such employee: name, age, date of original employment or appointment to the State service, the terms of any contract by which the employee is employed whether written or oral, past and current, to the extent that the agency has the written contract or a record of the oral contract in its possession, current position, title, current salary, date and amount of all increases and decreases in salary, date of each promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, separation, or other change in position classification, and every office or station to which the employee has been assigned. For the purposes of this section, the term "salary" includes pay, benefits, incentives, bonuses, and deferred and all other forms of compensation paid by the employing entity. Subject only to rules and regulations for the safekeeping of the records, adopted by the State Personnel Commission, every person having custody of such records shall permit them to be inspected and examined and copies thereof made by any person during regular business hours. Any person who is denied access to any such record for the purpose of inspecting, examining or copying the same shall have a right to compel compliance with the provisions of this section by application to a court of competent jurisdiction for a writ of mandamus or other appropriate relief."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 126‑24 reads as rewritten:
"§ 126‑24.  Confidential information in personnel files; access to such information.
All other information contained in a personnel file is confidential and shall not be open for inspection and examination except by these persons as follows:
(1)	The employee, applicant for employment, former employee, or his properly authorized agent, who may examine his own personnel file in its entirety.(2)	The supervisor of the employee.
(3)	Members of the General Assembly who may inspect and examine personnel records under the authority of G.S. 120‑19.
(4)	A party by authority of a proper court order may inspect and  examine a particular confidential portion of a State employee's personnel file.
(5)	An official of an agency of the federal government, State government or any political subdivision thereof. Such an official may inspect any personnel records when such inspection is deemed by the department head of the employee whose record is to be inspected or, in the case of an applicant for employment or a former employee, by the department head of the agency in which the record is maintained as necessary and essential to the pursuance of a proper function of said agency; provided, however, that such information shall not be divulged for purposes of assisting in a criminal prosecution, nor for purposes of assisting in a tax investigation.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, any department head may, in his discretion, inform any person or corporation of any promotion, demotion, suspension, reinstatement, transfer, separation, dismissal, employment or nonemployment of any applicant, employee or former employee employed by or assigned to his department or whose personnel file is maintained in his department and the reasons therefor and may allow the personnel file of such person or any portion thereof to be inspected and examined by any person or corporation when such department head shall determine that the release of such information or the inspection and examination of such file or portion thereof is essential to maintaining the integrity of such department or to maintaining the level or quality of services provided by such department; provided that prior to releasing such information or making such file or portion thereof available as provided herein, such department head shall prepare a memorandum setting forth the circumstances which the department head deems to require such disclosure and the information to be disclosed. The memorandum shall be retained in the files of said department head and shall be a public record."
SECTION 4.  Fees for copies of the personnel files regulated by the act shall reflect the actual cost of providing the records in order to offset the additional costs associated with the implementation of this act.
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2010.