Fired Pennsylvania Worker Has No Statutory Right to Inspect Personnel File
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry granted a terminated worker the right to inspect her personnel files shortly after she was fired from her job under the state Personnel Files Act. On appeal, the court reviewed the express language of the statute and concluded as a matter of first impression that a terminated worker did not fit within the definition of an “employee” under the Act. It went on to overrule prior case law in holding that former employees, who are not laid off with re-employment rights or on a leave of absence as defined in the Act, have no right to access their personnel files regardless of how quickly following termination they request to do so.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Inc v Pennsylvania Department of Labor