Massachusetts: Employee Personnel File Access Requirements
The short answer
Massachusetts gives current and former employees a written-request right to review and receive a copy of their personnel record within five business days. Employers must notify an employee within 10 days after placing potentially negative information in the record, and an unresolved written rebuttal becomes part of the record and must accompany the disputed material when sent to a third party. Current enforcement is by the Attorney General through a $500-to-$2,500 fine, while active companion bills would add retaliation protection and a private civil-action route.
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This is the general rule in Massachusetts. Ezel applies current Massachusetts law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 52C—5-business-day review/copy, 10-day negative-material notice, rebuttal, retention, and AG-enforced fine |
|---|---|
| Who may request the file | Current or former employee; private higher-education tenure, tenure-track, and similar positions excluded. No representative right stated (§ 52C) |
| Records covered | Records used or potentially affecting employment decisions; a detailed ≥20-employee statutory list expressly includes performance evaluations (§ 52C) |
| Excluded or redacted records | Third-party personal information whose disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted privacy invasion; excluded private-college tenure-track roles; separate medical records outside scope (§ 52C) |
| How to request and verify authority | Written request for review or copy; no notarization, certified mail, employer form, ID copy, or general representative-authorization rule stated (§ 52C) |
| Response deadline and inspection location | Review and copy within 5 business days; review at workplace during normal business hours. Negative material notice within 10 days (§ 52C) |
| Copy, mailing, and cost rights | Copy required within 5 business days; statute states no copying-fee amount or no-charge rule (§ 52C) |
| Correction or employee rebuttal | Mutual correction/removal; unresolved statement joins file and travels with disclosure; material employer knew or should have known was false may be expunged (§ 52C) |
| Former-worker limits and enforcement | Former employees covered with no stated request cutoff; ≥20-employee firms retain complete record 3 years. Current remedy: AG enforcement and $500-$2,500 fine (§ 52C) |
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Requirements one by one
Coverage and records
Section 52C covers current and former employees. It excludes private higher-education positions that are tenured, may lead to tenure, or carry similar responsibilities. A personnel record is defined by use in employment decisions. For employers with at least 20 employees, the statute supplies a detailed document list that expressly includes all performance evaluations.
Notice, written request, and five-day response
An employer must notify an employee within 10 days after placing information in the record that has been or may be used negatively. A written review or copy request is due within five business days. Review occurs at the workplace during normal business hours; the statute states no copying-fee amount.
Correction, retention, and enforcement
The parties may agree to remove or correct disputed information. Without agreement, the employee may add a written statement that becomes part of the record and must accompany the disputed information when sent to a third party. Material the employer knew or should have known was false may be pursued for expungement through a collective-bargaining agreement, other personnel procedure, or judicial process.
Employers with at least 20 employees retain the complete record through three years after termination. Current § 52C enforcement belongs to the Attorney General, and a violation carries a $500-to-$2,500 fine.
What trips people up
The two-per-calendar-year limit is written as a limit on review, not a stated lifetime or annual cap on copies. A review triggered by the employer's negative-material notice does not count against those two ordinary reviews.
The detailed document list and three-year retention rule expressly use a 20-employee threshold. The statute's functional personnel-record definition and five-business-day access language are not written with that threshold.
Common questions
Can a former employee request the record?
Yes. The definition includes former employees and states no request cutoff. Employers with at least 20 employees must retain the complete record for three years after termination.
Must the employer give me a copy?
Yes. A written copy request must be satisfied within five business days. Section 52C does not state a copying charge or a no-charge rule.
Can I force deletion of information I dispute?
Ordinary correction or removal requires agreement. If there is no agreement, the employee can add the statutory written statement; material the employer knew or should have known was false has the separate expungement routes named in § 52C.
Statutes and sources
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 52C: coverage, record definition, notice, review, copies, rebuttal, retention, and enforcement — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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