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Main Page Personnel Files
(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: patroldan81

I am told by my chief, (through town council), that he does not have authority to remove items (warnings) from a personnel file. It has always been my belief that a "strong chief", which he is, has the ability to maintain his officers files? The chief appears that he is siding with our argument and agrees that some items should be removed but is reluctant to do so because he was advised by the town's council that he can't. Obviously he wants to maintain peace on both sides. Does anyone know this as fact or is the town's attorney,

, stirring things up to create "billable hours"?

Posted by: masstoazcop

The chief that I used to work for had the authority to remove things from your file based upon the policies of human resource. Ex: citizen complaint can be removed from your file after 3 years, etc. Check your city's human resource policy and your department policy for removing items from your file.

Posted by: chief801

Letters of warning are disciplinary actions designed to curb negative behavior. If the chief put the letter in a file to achieve a desired result, and he feels that the behavior has been permanently changed, I think it is his right to pull something he wrote. It would be innappropriate to pull something put in the file by a previous chief because the current boss has no intimate knowledge of the incident.

A written reprimand should stay no matter what because the behavior was either a serious violation, or less serious forms of discipline did not work.

Posted by: Macop

The chief can absolutly pull it out if he wants to. In my dept if something negative goes in he will allow you to request it be taken out in say 6 months later as long as you keep your nose clean. I took over as an acting chief in a former dept where my chief was a strong chief and the personel files were kept in the chiefs desk. I dont see how the town would even have access to personl files, the chief should have the files in his officer and it should not matter what the town or town council thinks, they dont even have to know about it.

Posted by: j809

My previous department I worked for a written reprimand would stay in three years and a suspension 5 years with the exception that it could be taken out earlier as a grievance remedy or voluntarily by the CHief. However if the reprimand was not taken out it would be taken out automatically when the 3 years are up. I don't think something should haunt you for the rest of your career unless it was something criminal or real serious.

Posted by: chief801

j809,
Don't violate the rules and you have nothing to worry about...If you do something wrong, be a man! If your dumb enough to get your butt in a sling, it should stay. What's next? Erase B.O.P.'s if they are nice people for five years?

Posted by: j809

Quote:

Originally Posted by chief801";p=&quot

j809,
What's next? Erase B.O.P.'s if they are nice people for five years?

Don't they do that now in certain courts? I mean dismissal before arraignment, even better.

Posted by: chief801

I know, for every reprimand pulled, should a commendation be pulled? Both documents are just a record of previous behavior? I'm coming for ya 809!

Posted by: Webster

Quote:

Originally Posted by chief801

I know, for every reprimand pulled, should a commendation be pulled? Both documents are just a record of previous behavior? I'm coming for ya 809!

Hmmm, must be a lesson they teach at Chief school. I've heard that expression before.

Posted by: chief801

Just trying to keep things in perspective Webster...

Posted by: j809

Quote:

Hmmm, must be a lesson they teach at Chief school. I've heard that expression before.

DOCUMENT AND DESTROY. I have heard it before!!

Posted by: MCLEA

Note - you have the right to inspect your file. G.L. c. 149 Sec. 52C:

Any employer receiving a written request from an employee shall provide the employee with an opportunity to review his personnel record within five business days of such request. The review shall take place at the place of employment and during normal business hours. An employee shall be given a copy of his personnel record within five business days of submission of a written request for such copy to his employer.

If there is a disagreement with any information contained in a personnel record, removal or correction of such information may be mutually agreed upon by the employer and the employee. If an agreement is not reached, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the employee's position which shall thereupon be contained therein and shall become a part of such employee's personnel record. The statement shall be included when said information is transmitted to a third party as long as the original information is retained as part of the file. If an employer places in a personnel record any information which such employer knew or should have known to be false, then the employee shall have remedy through the collective bargaining agreement, other personnel procedures or judicial process to have such information expunged. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the removal of information contained in a personnel record upon mutual agreement of the employer and employee for any reason.

""Personnel record'', a record kept by an employer that identifies an employee, to the extent that the record is used or has been used, or may affect or be used relative to that employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation or disciplinary action. A personnel record shall include a record in the possession of a person, corporation, partnership or other association that has a contractual agreement with the employer to keep or supply a personnel record as provided in this section. A personnel record shall not include information of a personal nature about a person other than the employee if disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of such other person's privacy. Without limiting the applicability or generality of the foregoing, all of the following written information or documents to the extent prepared by an employer of twenty or more employees regarding an employee shall be included in the personnel record for that employee: the name, address, date of birth, job title and description; rate of pay and any other compensation paid to the employee; starting date of employment; the job application of the employee; resumes or other forms of employment inquiry submitted to the employer in response to his advertisement by the employee; all employee performance evaluations, including but not limited to, employee evaluation documents; written warnings of substandard performance; lists of probationary periods; waivers signed by the employee; copies of dated termination notices; any other documents relating to disciplinary action regarding the employee. A personnel record shall be maintained in typewritten or printed form or may be handwritten in indelible ink.

The purging and retention of certain types of records is governed by the record retention schedule established by the Secretary of State. For example:

Civilian Complaints, no specific officers named
c.260, ss.3A, 5B
4 years following closure of investigation.

Civilian Complaints, substantiated
c.149, s.52c, c.260, ss.3A, 5B, c.277, s.63
7 years following closure of investigation or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain outside personnel file.

Civilian Complaints, unsubstantiated
c.149, s.52C, c.260, ss.3A, 5B
4 years following closure of investigation or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain outside personnel file.

Disciplinary Case Files, resulting from administrative reprimand
c.149, s.52C, c.151B, c.260, s.5B, c.277, s.63
29 CFR 1602.30
7 years following closure or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain with personnel file.

Disciplinary Case Files, resulting from civilian complaint
c.149, s.52C, c.260, ss.3A, 5B, c.277, s.63
7 years following closure or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain with personnel file.

Internal Investigation Case Files
c.151B, c.260, s.5B, c.277. s.63
7 years following closure; retain with personnel files.

Reprimands, administrative
c.149, s.52C, c.151B, c.260, s.5B
4 years or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain with personnel file.

Reprimands, resulting from civilian complaint
c.149, s.52C, c.260, ss.3A, 5B
c.277, s.63

7 years following closure or 3 years following termination of employment, whichever is later; retain outside personnel file.

Posted by: RPD931

Quote:

Originally Posted by patroldan81";p=&quot

If this is the case, perhaps a letter indicating your approval/request to remove an item might suffice for such authority. And if he doesn't have such "authority" who does?

Although I don't maintain personnel files at my Police Department, I have previously maintained such files in the private sector. While the "Official" files were kept in the HR Dept., I also kept a duplicate file. If I had any issues with my employees I would do a written warning, and would keep it in MY FILE only, for XX amount of days or months, if there were no additional issues it would "disappear". If the issue persists - a copy went to HR. I did this method because they too were sticklers about "Not removing" things from the employees files, and I didn't think it was a respectful way to treat hard working employees who sometimes make misakes.

But if I didn't like the employee, every little thing went into the official file.

Posted by: Macop

If you didn not like them, thats the problem with administration. It should matter weather you like them, or not.

Posted by: Macop

typo, it should NOT matter

Posted by: patroldan81

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macop";p=&quot

If you didn not like them, thats the problem with administration. It should matter weather you like them, or not.

This is exactly what I'm complaining about. A former "interim" chief attempted to railroad me due to a personality conflict. A bunch of BS was tucked into my file without my knowledge, and I never learned about this until I retrieved my file months/years after some of the "incidents". I found that I had been written up for running BOPS to decide to summons or arrest

, one in there for stopping a M/V because the R/O was suspended for OUI

, and another one for wearing a firearm off duty

and yet another for making too many M/V stops

Did I mention all of these were placed without my knowledge! Town council says they aren't disciplinary, yet tried to use them as such in an arbitration. (I had struck-minor damage- a stolen suspect M/V during a chase when they tried to airbag me before bailing out with the M/V still rolling) needless to say the arbitrator ruled in my favor but now I have to work on getting the rest of this BS out of the file. Now I would never throw a fellow officer under the bus, but other guys have been caught in the act of some pretty serious sh!t and nothing was said because of the "good ol' boy" system of supervision.
Luckily, we do have a new chief who is a stand-up guy, won't tolerate that type of BS, and willing to help. But obviously he can't start making waves and piss off the town so early into the game. We just want to do this the right way

Posted by: Macop

Patroldan, I went through EXACTLEY the same thing in my last p.d. When my chief first left I was the OIC of department but eventually they brought in the joke of a chief/cop in from the next town over and the screwing began. One of the last things I did on advice form legal defense was make a copy of my personel file, I also allowed other officers to do it. I to found out about stuff in my file 6 months later. References to complaints made on M/V stops that were not substantiated nor was there a name of a reporting person. 3 or 4 people called and made general coments saying I was talking down to them but refused to give any information and it was in my file without my knowing. I was a very aggressive officer, stopping at least 10 to 15 cars in a ten hour shift issuing many citations. Other chiefs and sgts said the complaints were showing that I was doing my job and people will complain no matter what. But the acting #$%@#& tried to use to screw me, but it did not work. He gave a written letter of reprimand in my file because I put a set of papers in the wrong box. But certain other officer could miss court dates and nothing would happen to them.

Posted by: Macop

I did not help that this so called chief was a coaching at the local school and going to undeerage drinking parties, buying for minors, having them at his house. I had one of the members of the finance committee complain to me that his 20yr old neice was at a booze fest at the guys house, I could go on and on about the shit this guy pulled, yet he would shit on certain people in the dept for dumb shit because he knew he could not get anything on us the 40 yr old loser that he is.

whew ok, sorry I brought up some bad memories

Posted by: patroldan81

Frustrating, isn't it!

Posted by: Macop

Yeah, you could say that, thank god I got out of that hell hole.

Posted by: JoninNH

That chief still a chief?

Posted by: LA Copper

Quote:

Originally Posted by patroldan81";p=&quot

I am told by my chief, (through town council), that he does not have authority to remove items (warnings) from a personnel file. It has always been my belief that a "strong chief", which he is, has the ability to maintain his officers files? The chief appears that he is siding with our argument and agrees that some items should be removed but is reluctant to do so because he was advised by the town's council that he can't. Obviously he wants to maintain peace on both sides. Does anyone know this as fact or is the town's attorney,

, stirring things up to create "billable hours"?

At least some of you folks in Mass have a chance at getting some stuff removed from your files. Here in Los Angeles, our personnel package can't be changed. Personnel complaints stay there for your entire career, whether you are "convicted" or not. If fact, we even have a computer tracking system that makes it easy for management to check your package to see what types of complaints you have. Once it's there, it doesn't come out. That goes for both complaints and commendations.

City government has no say in what goes in our packages. It's all an internal thing. When we transfer from division to division, our package follows us. Sometimes, depending on what you are "convicted" of, it is used against you when it comes to promotions or transfers. That's just the way it is here, whether we like it or not.....

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