While an employee suggestion policy is not legally mandated, many employers maintain such policies as a means of boosting employee morale and soliciting valuable employee input. Such a policy may also be a good hedge against a union organizing campaign because employees often seek unions when they perceive that they have no meaningful input concerning their working conditions or that their views are not regarded by their employers. Obviously, employee suggestions must be taken seriously in order to accomplish this objective.
In Tennessee, an employer generally does not have the legal obligation to permit an employee to examine his or her personnel file, absent a court order or subpoena.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Act (TOSHA) do entitle employees to access certain medical and safety related records under certain delineated circumstances. Beyond compliance with those limited requirements, many employers, in an attempt to maintain positive employee relations, choose to allow employees to inspect all of their records in a reasonable manner. The sample policy provides a good example of a means to...
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