The Special Plan is no longer operative

Article 27: Personal Files

27.1 In choosing to pursue a career as a faculty member or librarian, an individual is not only committed to furthering the goals of the University, but is also hopeful that her/his career of personal objectives will be advanced. He/she is also keenly aware that the records of her/his career will be viewed and evaluated by others. At the same time, the right to privacy asserts that an individual has a legitimate interest in controlling the information to be released to others. It falls upon the University to ensure that this right to privacy is upheld. However, faculty members and librarians who participate in the evaluation processes must recognize their responsibility in protecting the security and confidentiality of personal files. For its part, the University has a legitimate interest in obtaining information necessary to carry out its functions and to fulfill its obligations to both faculty members and librarians and to those agencies which have direct authority over it. This information may be collected and maintained when there is a declared, clear and justifiable purpose as determined and implemented in accordance with this Agreement.

27.2 For the official purposes of the University, personal files are maintained by the Department Chair/Director, Dean/Chief Librarian, and the Personnel Department. Personal files include some or all of the following:

27.2.1 Pre-employment materials, correspondence associated with the employment applications, and supporting documents.

27.2.2 Copies of letters relating to the Board of Governors’ actions with respect to the faculty member or librarian including initial appointment, annual renewal of appointment, sabbatical leave, administrative appointments, etc.

27.2.3 Correspondence between the faculty member or librarian and administrative officers.

27.2.4 Materials relating to salary, tenure and promotion.

27.2.5 Materials respecting professional development and achievement.

27.3 A personal file shall not contain any items for which the identity of the person who prepared the document is not readily ascertained, except for certain materials collected from teaching evaluation procedures approved by a majority of faculty members within a department or school.

Aggregated statistical information gathered by means of department or college-approved student evaluation forms shall not be considered anonymous material. In this context, anonymous personal comments are not placed in personal files.

27.4 A personal file will not contain information regarding race, ethnic origin, religion, or political or social views except with the consent of the faculty member/librarian.

27.5 A personal file shall not contain any record of a faculty member or librarian having invoked the grievance procedure of this Agreement (Article 25).

27.6 It is recognized that in addition to personal files, private notes, correspondence, or other information are occasionally kept regarding faculty, librarians, or administrators, e.g. parking authority, library circulation, administration officers.

All persons holding such material are responsible for its security and proper use.

It is understood that such records, referred to above, shall not be used in proceedings regarding appointments, performance reviews, promotions, and tenure.

27.7 Confidentiality as to medical and psychological records of faculty members or librarians is ensured by the practices and standards established by the medical profession and the Canadian Medical Association.

27.8 A faculty member or librarian and/or her or his duly authorized representative has the right with reasonable notice to examine all documents pertaining to herself/himself in any personal files as listed in Section 27.2. This is meant to include the right to examine the confidential letters of reference, without attribution, and evaluation obtained for the purpose of appointment, tenure, salary and promotion decision. A letter without attribution is defined as a letter with all identifying features emended. The Department or College Committee will approve the emended text.

27.9 A faculty member or librarian and/or her or his duly authorized representative has the right to copy, at his or her own expense, all documents pertaining to herself/himself in their personal files as listed in Section 27.2, including confidential documents relating to appointment, tenure and promotion, without attribution (as defined in Article 27.8).

27.10 No document or information contained in any file of any faculty member or librarian shall be released or made available to any other person or institution without the express written consent of such faculty member or librarian, except for internal University administrative purposes where availability is required by this Agreement, or is required by the Faculty Policies Handbook, or where availability has been sanctioned by a Vice-President for use in University planning or as required by law (i.e., by warrant or subpoena). The University has an obligation to seek to quash, by an appeal to the courts, a subpoena which seeks information that is likely to infringe upon confidentiality of personal files.

27.11 Aggregated statistical information may be released provided that it includes no information that would allow an individual to be identified.

27.12 The Association will be consulted when changes to the mode of storage of personal files such as the implementation of computer or electronic information-retrieval are contemplated. The Association has the right to make recommendations on the security system for the new method of storage.

27.13 Administrative Access - Department Chairs/Directors, Deans/Chief Librarian, and the Director of Personnel are responsible for the security and confidentiality of the personal files, and for ensuring that the personal files in their offices are used only in the ways that are authorized by this Agreement.

27.14 All documents properly included in a personal file must be retained indefinitely except for:

27.14.1 Out-of-date payroll documents and curriculum vitae which have since been updated.

27.14.2 Material which by mutual consent between the faculty member or librarian and the responsible administrator is later deemed not related to the official purpose of the file.

27.14.3 Letters of reprimand (see Faculty Policies Handbook, Section F, 4.06, (i)) should be retained in the official file for two years. At the end of two years, if no further letters of reprimand have been issued, the letter of reprimand and all correspondence associated with the letter will be removed from the official file. At this time, a reference will be made in the official file held by the Dean/Chief Librarian stating only that a letter of reprimand has been issued on a particular date. A letter of reprimand may not be used in annual merit deliberations after the year in which it was issued.

27.15 Retention of personal files:

27.15.1 Upon retirement or resignation, the faculty member/ librarian, in consultation with an officer of the University, may decide which file information, if any, is retained by the University Archives except for any payroll data that the University must retain by law. As a condition of being permitted to remove documents from her/his file, the faculty member/librarian will be required to sign a waiver protecting the University from any future lawsuit. All documents that the faculty member/librarian elects to remain in the personal file must remain there. The faculty member/librarian may also decide when the file retained for archival purposes may be made available for research purposes.

27.15.2 In the event of death of a faculty member/librarian, the disposal of the file shall be according to any instructions in her/his will, or, if there are no explicit instruction, at the discretion of the executor(s) of the will. If the executor and/or any heir is contemplating a lawsuit against the University relating to the employment of the deceased faculty member/librarian, any relevant material must be retained in the personal file and made available to the University for purposes of its defence against the lawsuit. As in Section 27.15.1 above, certain payroll data may be retained by the University as required by law.

27.15.3 In the event of dismissal of a faculty member/librarian, the University shall have the right to retain any documents relevant to the dismissal and both the faculty member/librarian and the University shall have full access to these for any legal action contemplated by either party. The faculty member/librarian shall have the power to decide whether the material directly relevant to dismissal shall be made available for archival or research purposes; however, should he/she choose to make it available, all documents must be included. With regard to documents in his/her personal file not directly related to the dismissal, the faculty member/librarian shall have sole discretion as to their archival retention and research availability date. As above, certain payroll data may be retained by the University as required by law.

27.16 Accuracy of personal files:

27.16.1 By mutual consent of the faculty member/librarian and the other relevant concerned persons (including the administrative individual responsible for the file), documents may be modified or amended, usually by the attachment of a memorandum signed by all concerned parties, or redrafted. This does not apply to documents, such as letters of reference, received from individuals outside the University.

27.16.2 In the event that a document contains allegations which are subsequently shown to be false or unsubstantiated and is further potentially harmful to the faculty member/ librarian, it shall be removed from the file. This could include letters of reference solicited from outside sources. The decision to remove such documents shall be by mutual agreement between the faculty member/librarian and the Chair/Director, or Dean/Chief Librarian.

27.16.3 Where a faculty member/librarian disagrees with a document in her/his personal file, he/she may elect to record her/his objection in a memorandum which must be attached to the relevant document. This policy applies to any document in the personal file.

27.16.4 Except as specified in Section 27.14.1, 2, 3 and 27.16.1, 2, 3 no document in the personal file may be removed, altered, annotated, highlighted or have portions deleted in any way.