Employee Personnel File Access Requirements in Delaware

At a glance

Who may inspect and what is covered

The Act covers a person currently employed, laid off with reemployment rights, or on leave. It expressly excludes applicants and designated agents. That means it does not provide a general inspection right to every former worker or permit an employee to substitute a representative.

If the employer maintains them, the personnel-file definition includes applications, wage or salary information, commendations, warnings and discipline, deduction authorizations, benefits, leave and attendance records, employment and salary history, job-title and change dates, retirement records, performance evaluations, and medical records. The inspection duty applies to files used to determine qualifications for employment, promotion, additional compensation, termination, or discipline.

Request, timing, and inspection controls

The employer must provide inspection at a reasonable time during regular business hours of the office where the records are ordinarily maintained, when sufficient time is available during the business day. The employer may require inspection during the employee's free time and in the presence of a designated official.

A request need not use a statutory form unless the employer chooses to require a written identification form. When a written form is required, the employee must identify either the inspection's purpose or the particular portions sought. The employer must allow enough time for the volume of the file.

Notes rather than a required copy

The employee may take notes. The Act does not require the employer to permit the employee to remove the file, part of it, or a copy from the place on the employer's premises where inspection occurs. It also supplies no copying-price rule.

Except when reasonable cause supports another inspection, the employer may limit access to once per calendar year.

Correction and durable rebuttal

The employee and employer may agree to remove or correct disputed information. If they cannot agree, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the employee's position. The statement must remain part of the personnel file or medical records and accompany every third-party transmittal or disclosure from the file or records.

An access refusal carries a civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation, with a claim permitted in a court of competent jurisdiction. The same penalty range applies to prohibited retaliation for complaints, information, proceedings, or testimony under the Act.

What trips people up

"Reasonable time" is not a fixed number of days. The statute regulates the business hours, office, available time, and possible employee-free-time conditions but does not promise access by a numerical deadline.

Being laid off is not automatically disqualifying. A laid-off worker remains an eligible employee only when the worker has reemployment rights. An ordinary former employee without those rights is not expressly included.

The written statement does more than sit in the file. It must accompany both a transmittal and a disclosure from the file or records to a third party.

Common questions

Can the employer require a written request?

Yes. The employer may require a written form for identifying the requester. The employee must then state the purpose or the particular parts sought.

Can the employee copy the file?

The Act protects note-taking but does not require the employer to allow removal of the file, any part, or a copy from the inspection place.

How often may an employee inspect?

The employer may ordinarily limit inspection to once per calendar year, except for reasonable cause.

Statutes and sources

• 19 Del. C. § 731: eligible employees, covered records, and exclusions — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
• 19 Del. C. §§ 732-733: request, reasonable-time inspection, location, notes, removal limits, and annual frequency — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
• 19 Del. C. § 734: agreed correction and durable employee statement — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
• 19 Del. C. § 735: access-refusal and retaliation penalties — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).