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 Rhode Island, employees have the right to access and inspect their personnel files. Rhode Island General Laws § 28-6.4-1 et seq. governs the inspection of personnel files for both public and private employees. Under these statutes, an employee may request to review their personnel file up to three times in a calendar year. Employers are required to provide access to the file within seven (7) 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 in writing within twenty (20) days of its inclusion. This notification is considered an adverse-action notice and allows the employee to be aware of and respond to the information placed in their file. Rhode Island law also allows employees to contest information they believe is incorrect and to have a statement of disagreement added to their file if the contested information is not removed.