2006 Minnesota Statutes

181.967 EMPLOYMENT REFERENCES.
    Subdivision 1. Definitions. For purposes of this section:
(1) "employee" means a person who performs services for hire and includes an officer
of a corporation;
(2) "employer" means a person who has one or more employees and includes a designated
employee or agent who discloses information on behalf of an employer;
(3) "personnel record" has the meaning given in section 181.960;
(4) "private employer" means an employer that is not a government entity, as defined
in section 13.02; and
(5) "public employer" means an employer that is a government entity, as defined in section
13.02.
    Subd. 2. Causes of action limited. No action may be maintained against an employer by an
employee or former employee for the disclosure of information listed in subdivisions 3 to 5 about
the employee to a prospective employer or employment agency as provided under this section,
unless the employee or former employee demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that:
(1) the information was false and defamatory; and
(2) the employer knew or should have known the information was false and acted with
malicious intent to injure the current or former employee.
    Subd. 3. Employment reference information disclosure by private employers. (a)
Subdivision 2 applies to the disclosure of the following information by a private employer in
response to a request for the information:
(1) dates of employment;
(2) compensation and wage history;
(3) job description and duties;
(4) training and education provided by the employer; and
(5) acts of violence, theft, harassment, or illegal conduct documented in the personnel record
that resulted in disciplinary action or resignation and the employee's written response, if any,
contained in the employee's personnel record.
A disclosure under clause (5) must be in writing with a copy sent contemporaneously by
regular mail to the employee's last known address.
(b) With the written authorization of the current or former employee, subdivision 2 also
applies to the written disclosure of the following information by a private employer:
(1) written employee evaluations conducted before the employee's separation from the
employer, and the employee's written response, if any, contained in the employee's personnel
record;
(2) written disciplinary warnings and actions in the five years before the date of the
authorization, and the employee's written response, if any, contained in the employee's personnel
record; and
(3) written reasons for separation from employment.
The employer must contemporaneously provide the employee or former employee with a
copy of information disclosed under this paragraph and to whom it was disclosed by mailing the
information to the employee or former employee.
(c) A prospective employer or employment agency shall not disclose written information
received under this section without the written authorization of the employee.
    Subd. 4. Disclosure of personnel data by public employer. Subdivision 2 applies to the
disclosure of all public personnel data and to the following private personnel data under section
13.43 by a public employer if the current or former employee gives written consent to the
release of the private data:
(1) written employee evaluations conducted before the employee's separation from the
employer, and the employee's written response, if any, contained in the employee's personnel
record; and
(2) written reasons for separation from employment.
    Subd. 5. School district disclosure of violence or inappropriate sexual contact.
(a) Subdivision 2 applies to a disclosure by the superintendent of a school district or the
superintendent's designee, or a person having administrative control of a charter school, to another
school district or charter school of: (1) public personnel data under section 13.43, subdivision 2,
relating to acts of violence toward or inappropriate sexual contact with a student that resulted in
disciplinary action; and (2) private personnel data under section 13.43, subdivision 16.
(b) A disclosure under this subdivision must be in writing with a copy sent
contemporaneously by regular mail to the employee's last known address.
    Subd. 6. Application; relation to other law. (a) This section does not affect the availability
of other limitations on liability under common law.
(b) This section does not apply to an action involving an alleged violation of chapter 363
or other statute.
(c) This section does not diminish or impair the rights of a person under a collective
bargaining agreement.
History: 2004 c 137 s 3