PERSONNEL FILES - EMPLOYEE FILES
Your employer will not let you see your file or give you a copy.

There is no law in Missouri that requires that the employer show you your personnel file or give you a copy. You will be able to get your personnel file if you sue the employer on some legal theory, such as Wrongful Termination, or for a Service Letter violation, etc. . . If you file an EEOC charge (see my Discrimination article), and if the EEOC chooses to investigate, the EEOC will probably get (much of) your personnel file and you can go to the EEOC and take a look at it.

But just what exactly IS a “personnel file?” It’s not clearly defined in the court cases. Even if the employer has a policy of showing you your “employment file” the employer will probably not show you everything it retains about you. The most sensitive secret memos about you will probably not be shown to you, and there is nothing you can reasonably do about it in Missouri, unless you take legal action of some type.

Even if you take legal action, the employer will probably fight very hard not to show you everything it has about you. Employment lawyers do battle with companies every day, during lawsuits, trying to get the companies to release info that should be part of our client’s “personnel file”.

See my article on The sorry state of our employment protections for more information about this major hole in our Missouri employee rights.

Write your State and Federal Legislators. Maybe the legislators will do something to change the law.