Policy 5:01:00:10

Subject: Personnel Records

The following policy of the Tennessee Board of Regents on personnel records shall apply to all employees of the institutions and technology centers governed by the Board.

Under the provisions of T.C.A. §10-7-503, personnel records are considered public records and may be inspected, extracted, or copied by any citizen of Tennessee during normal business hours, in accordance with reasonable rules of the office having custody of such records.

However, T.C.A  §10-7-504(f)(1) treats as confidential the following information: home telephone and personal cell phone numbers; bank account information; social security number; driver license information except where driving or operating a vehicle is part of the employee's job description or job duties or incidental to the performance of his/her job; residential information, including the street address, city, state, and zip code for any state employee; and the same information of immediate family members or household members.  This information must be redacted wherever possible, but access to otherwise public information shall not be limited or denied because a record contains confidential information. Further, this information is available to law enforcement agencies, courts, or other governmental agencies performing official functions.

Each institution and technology center shall designate the official custodian of permanent personnel records, provided that more than one official custodian may be designated for different classifications of employee records. The official custodian of permanent personnel records shall be responsible for maintaining the permanent personnel files. The authority of the official custodian may be delegated to such assistants as are provided by the institution or technology center.

Each institution or technology center shall develop a procedure to assure that employees are informed about records maintained about them and to permit them, upon request, to review the material. Pursuant to T.C.A. § 8-50-108, a state employee may inspect his/her own personnel file at any reasonable time. The employee may request copies of any material contained in such file, which copies shall be furnished to the employee upon payment of the cost of such reproduction. A procedure shall also be developed by each institution or school to monitor the release of information contained in personnel files in a manner consistent with individual rights to privacy and institutional or school and external needs for information.

As defined in T.C.A. § 10-7-301(b), public record(s) or state record(s) means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other material regardless of physical form or characteristics made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental agency.

Nothing in this policy shall require the maintenance of any record for any period of time in excess of any retention period established by the institution or school, the Board, or State or Federal law.

Source: TBR Meetings: June 25, 1976; March 4, 1977; June 26, 1981; September 18, 1981; September 30, 1983; September 16, 1988; March 15, 2002; September 25, 2008