Agenda - Council - 07/14/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

PC CASE # 5 DISCUSSION REGARDING CITY COUNCIL ACCESS TO EMPLOYEE PERSONNEL DATA By: Givonila Reed Kone, Human Resources Manager Background At a recent meeting of the Personnel Committee, staffwas directed to prepare information regarding guidelines for providing the City Council with access to employee personnel data. The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDA) determines public and private classifications for information on employees and former employees. Public information can be released to anyone; private information cannot be released without the permission ofthe employee who is the subject of the data. Under the MGDA, personnel data is private unless specifically classified as public. Some examples of public personnel data include name, city and county of residence, gross salary, education and training background, previous work experience, the existence and status of any complaints or charges against an employee, and the final disposition of any disciplinary action and data documenting the basis for the disciplinary action. Examples of private data include performance evaluations, medical information and social security numbers. The City Council, as a body, is an employer and may have access to public or private data for business reasons. In the city of Ramsey, recommendations to hire or terminate employees are presented to the City Council for consideration because the City Code expressly states that the City Administrator will make recommendations to the City Council on these matters. The City Code also expressly grants authority to the City Administrator to handle all other personnel matters. City Code Section 3.10.01, Subd. 6, Duties and Responsibilities of the Administrator, states that "The [City] Administrator shall supervise the activities of all City department heads and personnel of the City in the administration of City policy with authority to effectively recommend their employment and/or removal." Subdivision 9 of the same section further states that "The [City] Administrator shall handle all personnel matters for the City in conjunction with policies established by the Council." Based on these provisions of the City Code, the following personnel data or actions are those that are presented to the City Council for consideration: 1. Requests to remove individuals from probation. 2. Recommendations for termination. 3. Recommendations for reorganizations that include position reclassifications.