Colorado § 8-2-129 - Access to personnel files and records - definitions - exemptions.

§ 8-2-129. Access to personnel files and records - definitions - exemptions.

(1) Every employer shall, at least annually, upon the request of an employee, permit that employee to inspect and obtain a copy of any part of his or her own personnel file or files at the employer's office and at a time convenient to both the employer and the employee. A former employee may make one inspection of his or her personnel file after termination of employment. An employer may restrict the employee's or former employee's access to his or her files to be only in the presence of a person responsible for managing personnel data on behalf of the employer or another employee designated by the employer. The employer may require the employee or former employee to pay the reasonable cost of duplication of documents.

(2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Employee" does not include a person employed by an entity subject to the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S.

(b) "Employer" does not include any entity subject to the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S.

(c) "Personnel file" means the personnel records of an employee, in the manner maintained by the employer and using reasonable efforts by the employer to collect, that are used or have been used to determine the employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, additional compensation, or employment termination or other disciplinary action. "Personnel file" does not include documents or records required to be placed or maintained in a separate file from the regular personnel file by federal or state law or rule; documents or records pertaining to confidential reports from previous employers of the employee; or an active criminal investigation, an active disciplinary investigation by the employer, or an active investigation by a regulatory agency. "Personnel file" also does not include any information in a document or record that identifies any person who made a confidential accusation, as determined by the employer, against the employee who makes a request under subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Nothing in this section:

(a) Creates or authorizes a private cause of action by a person aggrieved by a violation of this section;

(b) Requires an employer to create, maintain, or retain a personnel file on an employee or former employee; or

(c) Requires an employer to retain any documents that are or were contained in an employee's or former employee's personnel file for any specified period of time.

(4) This section does not apply to a financial institution chartered and supervised under state or federal law, including without limitation:

(a) A bank;

(b) A trust company;

(c) A savings institution; and

(d) A credit union.

Source: L. 2016: Entire section added, (HB 16-1432), ch. 311, p. 1253, § 2, effective January 1, 2017.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 16-1432, see section 1 of chapter 311, Session Laws of Colorado 2016.