notes relating to the employee that the employer has in the employer's |
possession. Records in a personnel file may be maintained in any form |
including paper, microfiche or electronic form. The employer shall take |
adequate steps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of these |
records. An employer maintaining records in a form other than paper |
shall have available to the employee, former employee or duly authorized |
representative the equipment necessary to review and copy the personnel |
file. Any employer who, following a request pursuant to this section, |
without good cause fails to provide an opportunity for review and copying |
of a personnel file, within 10 days of receipt of that request, is |
subject to a civil forfeiture of $25 for each day that a failure |
continues. The total forfeiture may not exceed $500. An employee, |
former employee or the Department of Labor may bring an action in the |
District Court or the Superior Court for such equitable relief, including |
an injunction, as the court may consider to be necessary and proper. The |
employer may also be required to reimburse the employee, former employee |
or the Department of Labor for costs of suit including a reasonable |
attorney's fee if the employee or the department receives a judgment in |
the employee's or department's favor, respectively. For the purposes of |
this section, the term "nonprivileged medical records or nurses' station |
notes" means all those materials that have not been found to be protected |
from discovery or disclosure in the course of civil litigation under the |
Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 26, the Maine Rules of Evidence, |
Article V or similar rules adopted by the Workers' Compensation Board or |
other administrative tribunals. |