Labor Confidentiality Laws

• Confidentiality of personal information held by employers is protected by labor laws in many states. Typically, employers will have information concerning an employee's age, gender, employment history and level of wages. Other information held by employers includes employment disciplinary history, reasons for termination of employment and in some cases, genetic information, obtained as part of a medical screening of employees. Personal privacy is designed to ensure this information does not enter the public domain.
  
  

Florida Confidentiality Laws

• In Florida, employers have to screen potential employees prior to employment as a requirement of Florida law. Security guards and law enforcement officers are examples of occupations that require the screening of all applicants. Whenever screening is a legal requirement of employment, Chapter 435.03 of the Florida Statutes states employers must perform employment history checks and criminal background checks, via the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Checks may also include inquiries made with local law enforcement agencies. Chapter 435.09 of the Florida Statutes states that criminal or juvenile information gathered by an employer as part of the background checking process must remain confidential and can only be used to show an employee meets the standards required for employment. Employers can share this information among each other though, as Chapter 435.10 says that background check information, information concerning employment disciplinary matters and reasons for employment termination can be given to another employer on request.
  
  

Texas Unlawful Work Practice Claims

• Texas has laws prohibiting employment discrimination on several grounds, including race, gender and religion. Employment discrimination is covered by Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code. If an employee, or any other person makes a complaint against an employer, claiming the employer has violated the provisions of the anti-discrimination laws, officials of the Department of Labor commission must investigate the complaint, according to Section 21.204 of Chapter 21. Information gathered during the investigation must remain confidential, according to Section 21.304, which specifically states information gathered by officers or employees of the commission must not make that information public. Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code contains a further provision, in Section 21.403 that protects the confidentiality of genetic information. If an employer holds genetic information about an employee, the employer must not disclose this information to anyone and cannot be forced to disclose the information by legal subpoena, where, for example, a court order is used to compel the release of information.
  
  

New York Unemployment Insurance Information

• New York labor laws prohibit the disclosure of unemployment insurance information held by the Department of Labor. Section 537 of the New York laws includes information held in unemployment records obtained from employers and employees and includes wage reporting data. Section 537.1.c states that the department may give unemployment insurance information to a person requesting information relating to himself, that is held by the department, and Section 537.1.d allows the department to disclose unemployment insurance information about a person to a third party if the person has given informed consent for the information to be given to the third party. If you are involved in legal proceedings and your lawyer needs access to your unemployment insurance information you can give your consent to the department, allowing them to provide the information to your lawyer.