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 Massachusetts, employees have the right to access and inspect their personnel files under state law. The Massachusetts Personnel Records Law (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 52C) requires both public and private employers to grant employees the opportunity to review their personnel records. Employees can request to see their file twice a calendar year, and employers must comply within five business days of the request. Additionally, if any negative information is added to an employee's personnel file that could affect their employment, the employer must notify the employee within 10 days of adding such information. This notification is considered an adverse-action notice. The law also allows employees to dispute the accuracy of the information in their personnel files and to add their own written statement if they disagree with any information contained within the file.