We are processing employee performance in a statistical manner. Can we publish this statistical data monthly in a large report card identifying each employee by name and giving each employee’s score? This report card would be given to each employee. They would have access to every other employee’s score each month, as well as their own. Can we do this without violating their right to privacy?
Posted 07-08-2003
Ann Kiernan responds:
NO! Under the laws of every state, employers have a duty to take reasonable care with sensitive information. This is not reasonable care! You can publish summaries without identifying names; for example, you could report the range and average scores of everyone in a department, or of everyone in a particular job classification. That would actually be useful information for employees to see how they are doing compared to others.
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