Employee Personnel File Access Requirements in Rhode Island

At a glance

Written request and inspection conditions

A current employee must make a written request and give at least seven days' advance notice. Holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays do not count toward that notice period. Inspection must occur at a reasonable time outside the employee's work hours, on the business premises at the immediate place of inspection, and in the presence of the employer or the employer's designee.

The inspectable file is functionally defined. It covers records used or previously used to determine the employee's qualifications for employment, promotion, additional compensation, termination, or discipline.

Excluded records

The inspection section does not apply to records concerning an investigation of a possible criminal offense or records prepared for civil, criminal, or grievance proceedings. It also excludes reference letters, recommendations, managerial records kept or used only by the employer, confidential reports from previous employers, and managerial planning records.

Copies, frequency, and enforcement

The employee may not personally make copies or remove the personnel file from the immediate inspection place. A neighboring subsection allows the employer to charge a fee reasonably related to the cost of supplying copies of requested documents. It does not, however, expressly say that the employer must supply those copies.

An employer need not permit more than three inspections in a calendar year. An employer or employer's agent that violates the chapter without just cause may be fined up to $100.

Chapter 28-6.4 does not establish a procedure for correcting, removing, or rebutting disputed information. Its inspection language refers to an employee and does not expressly extend the right to former employees.

What trips people up

The seven-day period is advance notice the employee must provide, not a separately worded employer-production deadline. The statute excludes weekends and holidays from that notice calculation.

The copy provisions must be read together. The employee cannot make copies at the inspection, while the employer may charge a reasonable cost-related fee for supplying requested-document copies. Current law does not expressly impose a standalone duty to provide them.

Section 28-6.4-1(c) separately mentions current and former employees when addressing an employer's good-faith disclosure of job-performance information. That reference-disclosure rule does not expand subsection (a)'s inspection right to former employees.

Common questions

Can the employee inspect during paid work time?

The statute specifies a reasonable time other than the employee's work hours.

May the employee take the file away or photograph it?

The statute says the employee may not make copies or remove the file from the immediate inspection place. It does not separately address photography.

Is there a right to correct inaccurate information?

Chapter 28-6.4 provides no correction, removal, or written-rebuttal procedure.

Can a former employee use this inspection right?

Current law does not expressly include former employees in the inspection subsection.

Statutes and sources

• R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-6.4-1(a)-(b): covered records, request and inspection conditions, exclusions, copying language, and annual cap — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
• R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-6.4-2: fine for violation without just cause — official text (accessed July 12, 2026).
• RI H.B. 7442 (2026): proposed companion-bill changes — official bill text (checked July 12, 2026).