This Wisdom of the Crowd (ACC member discussion) addresses whether attorneys can have direct access to Human Resources (HR) records, in a US context. This resource was compiled from questions and responses posted on the forum of the Employment & Labor Law ACC Network.
(Permission was received from the ACC members quoted below prior to publishing their eGroup Comments in this Wisdom of the Crowd resource.)
Question:
I'm finding that I don't have direct access to Human Resources (HR)/Compensation/Financial records at the company. I can see them and get what I need if I ask the right people. Is it odd to not have access to this data? If an administrative assistant in the HR department has access to all this information, shouldn't the lawyer in the legal department who handles HR matters have it, too? I recognize it's sensitive data, but I have all sorts of sensitive data. And I can get it if I ask.
Do others have this type of access?
Wisdom of the Crowd:
Response # 1: Our legal department has partial access to HR records. I can access information from the employee's application, contract, promotions, any disciplinary action, work permits, etc. However, I do not have direct access to their current salary (their starting salary is in their employment contract), bonuses, overtime requests, absences, vacation days, etc.1
Response # 2: I do not have direct access to HR/Compensation data and believe that this is appropriate. The law department's role is to advise HR upon request about an employee issue. As with any client, it seems appropriate that the law department would request records as needed. I think it is fairly common for HR to draw lines of this nature with the law department because Legal is an advisor to HR and not HR itself.2
Response # 3: It is the same in our company - I get the information on request, but do not have direct access to it. I sometimes share the original poster's apparent frustration, thinking that it would be more efficient to have the information at my fingertips. On the other hand, it necessarily limits my access to need-to-know situations, and as someone else has said, this can benefit the lawyer as well. I have not challenged the status quo on this one.3
Response # 4: Our employment lawyers similarly do not have access to HR data and we have to ask for it from our HR staff. It's frustrating. We are told that it is because the security of the system is set up that only the HR department has access. I have not been able to change it. One work-around is to ask HR to run reports for you that include key information that you often need. I get a quarterly report of all United States employees and a monthly report of all foreign employees with data that gives me most of what I need. I don't get to see the real-time data in the system, but the reports are very helpful. HR has no problem sending me the reports -- but they have a problem giving me real-time system access.4
Response # 5: For what it is worth, I have access to most HR data without having to ask for it. We are a small company, so that certainly plays a part, but if you have to chase people down to get information, it certainly doesn't appear to be unreasonable to ask for direct access.5
Response # 6: I am General Counsel and our Vice President (VP) of HR reports to me, but I do not have access to HR records. I think that is appropriate. When I need HR/compensation information, I get a prompt response from the team, so it has not been an issue.6
Response # 7: I have full access to our HR information system. I need it often for numerous reasons. Most information is in the electronic Human Resource Information System (HRIS), but I have to ask for hard copy personnel files, medical leave files and disability files.7
Response # 8: In a previous role, I, employment counsel and the paralegals responsible for responding to administrative charges, had access below the VP level. I, too, had to request it in an effort to improve response time. Currently, we allow similar access. I see it as a matter of trust and have not had any issues.8
Response # 9: Our employment law team (attorneys and paralegals) has full access to the HRIS. We use it daily, both for litigation discovery purposes and for counseling matters. (For example, if we have a counseling call scheduled and have the luxury of knowing who we'll be discussing, we might log in to the HRIS to check disciplinary history, job history and the like to be prepared for the call.) We cannot, however, run reports from the HRIS; that needs to be done through our HR Control function. For what it's worth, our HR Control group handles all sensitive data reporting and our HR folks have role-level restrictions on HRIS access, which we think makes sense. I hope this helps as a data point.9
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1Anonymous Poster (October, 2016).
2Marjory Robertson, AVP & Senior Counsel, Sun Life Financial, Massachusetts (Employment & Labor Law, October 7, 2016).
3Anonymous Poster (October, 2016).
4Kevin Chapman, Associate General Counsel, Dow Jones, New Jersey (Employment & Labor Law, October 7, 2016).
5Ty A. Patton, General Counsel, McCurdy Auction, LLC, Kansas (Employment & Labor Law, October 7, 2016).
6Melissa Yoon, General Counsel, Ambry Genetics Corporation, California (Employment & Labor Law, October 7, 2016).
7Anonymous (October, 2016).
8Anonymous (October, 2016).
9David Stringer, Associate General Counsel and Managing Attorney, The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, Ohio (Employment & Labor Law, October 9, 2016).
Region:
United States
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