The official personnel file for a staff employee is maintained by the employee’s department or by the primary department in the case of multiple appointments. The department manager, or the department human resources manager, is responsible for maintaining the personnel files. All staff personnel records should be maintained in a secured and confidential location. Files containing confidential information are to be kept in locked cabinets or drawers with limited access, or similarly secured in automated form if the campus changes to that format in the future.
Departments are expected to maintain reasonable safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of personnel documents. Access to staff personnel files should be restricted to those with designated authority to review the files such as a supervisor, a department manager, or a central human resources manager. Employees with access to these files should be familiar with the campus policies regarding the handling of confidential information which can be found at https://inews.berkeley.edu/bcc/Fall2004/dmup.html.
It is recommended that department managers review personnel files at least annually. Before purging documents from employee files, please review the retention and disposition guidelines outlined in the University Records Retention and Disposition Manual. Unnecessary duplicates should be discarded. Documents that are purged from employee files should be shredded.