No federal law gives an employee the right to access and inspect their personnel file maintained by their employer—but some state laws do. Many states require public employers to allow employees to access and inspect their personnel files—and some states require private employers to do so as well.

Some states limit an employee’s right to access and inspect their personnel file to certain documents—and some states require an employer to provide employees with certain documents (such as a disciplinary document) within a certain number of days after it is placed in the employee’s personnel file (known as an adverse-action notice).

Laws regarding whether employees have the right to access and inspect their personnel file—and if so, the circumstances under which they may do so—are generally located in a state’s statutes.

In Alabama, there is no specific state statute that grants all employees the right to access and inspect their personnel files. However, Alabama does have laws that pertain to public employees. Under the Alabama Personnel Records Review Act, state government employees have the right to inspect their personnel records. This law does not extend to private-sector employees. Private employers in Alabama are not required by state law to provide access to personnel files, although they may choose to do so at their discretion. Additionally, there are no specific adverse-action notice requirements in Alabama that mandate employers to provide employees with certain documents from their personnel files within a certain number of days after they are placed in the employee's file. It's important for employees to understand that, in the absence of a specific state law for private employees, company policy or employment contracts may govern the handling of personnel files.