STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

General Circular No. 001598

To:                   Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject:            Use of Personnel Records

Issue Date:       01/19/05

The use of automated record-keeping systems means that vast quantities of personal data about employees are available to more people than ever before. 

This General Circular is being issued to remind agencies that those individuals who have access to any employee information, whether through an automated record-keeping system, paper system or through any other means, have an obligation to use the data only for official governmental business purposes.     It is our concern that some of the individuals who have access to employee data may not have a full understanding of the importance of disseminating information properly in response to requests for public records.  For instance, not everyone might know that certain items, such as social security numbers, are private and are to be deleted from information that is disseminated. 

To help ensure that data is properly handled in response to information requests, we urge each agency to have a policy regarding public records that includes the name of the person (or persons) responsible for responding to requests for public records for their own employees.  The policies should also cover the handling of information in those cases where an agency has access to information about employees in agencies other than their own.  The policy should be made generally available to all employees in the agency.

More information regarding confidential information that may be included in public records is available in the H.R. Handbook on the Civil Service website (www.dscs.state.la.us).

Please contact your Assistance Coordinator if you have any questions or would like assistance in developing a policy.

Sincerely,

s/Anne S. Soileau

Acting Director