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We parted on bad terms. I'm afraid to ask for copies, because such a request might spook them. On the other hand, asking for copies shows that I am making a good faith effort to comply with my agreements with them.

The company is publicly traded and has thousands of employees. Would fulfilling this request be a routine or obligatory task for them?

Are there any other reasons I should be afraid to ask for copies?

Edit: This case takes place in California.

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  • This post ought to be moved back to Law SE because it mostly has to do with legal issues such as company's legal obligation to produce copies and the OP's indication that he intends to comply with the agreements.
    – Iñaki Viggers
    May 9, 2021 at 22:34
  • Depends on details of why you are checking. Especially whether you suspect it's you vs them who were/are potentially in violation. If you can give more context it might be possible to guess how they might react. Plz understand this stack generally won't touch the legal side.
    – Pete W
    May 9, 2021 at 23:32
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    @PeteW I originally posted this to the law stack exchange, but I got involuntarily migrated here... I don't think I have a case against them, and I don't think they have a case against me. Of course, they might not see it that way; I don't know. However, there is a third party (another employee) that they probably want to protect against me. They may be willing to legally harass me if it looks like I am going to take action against this other employee, depending on how vindictive they are. My guess is that they are pretty conservative though, since it's a publicly traded company.
    – curious_layman
    May 10, 2021 at 6:31
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    I would say that since it is a very large company - there is no problem at all. Someone in the bureaucracy will send them over and it will be a non-issue. Just send a polite email asking for them, to someone nondescript in HR or the like. Good luck!
    – Fattie
    May 10, 2021 at 11:35
  • Why don't you already have a copy of those contracts?
    – Mark Rotteveel
    May 11, 2021 at 14:03

3 Answers 3

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Would fulfilling this request be a routine or obligatory task for them?

It is reasonable to presume that your contracts are part of your personnel record. In some (if not all) jurisdictions in the US, there is legislation requiring the employer to comply with employee's request for his personnel record. As an example, see MCL 423.504.

Are there any other reasons I should be afraid to ask for copies?

Not really. The employer's intention to enforce its entitlement pursuant to the contract(s) hardly depends on whether you ask for a copy of your personnel record.

Furthermore, given that you parted on bad terms, obtaining a copy of your records might unveil whether the employer, co-workers, or third parties indulged in breach of contract (in this case the employer), violation of your statutory rights, defamation, or other torts from which you would have a viable claim in court.

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    Thanks! I want to upvote your answer, but stackexchange is not letting me :/ I am a little unclear on what is meant by "The employer's intention to enforce its entitlement pursuant to the contract(s) hardly depends on whether you ask for a copy of your personnel record." Are you just saying that my request is unlikely to affect what (if any) legal action they might try to take against me?
    – curious_layman
    May 9, 2021 at 22:43
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    @curious_layman "Are you just saying that my request is unlikely to affect what (if any) legal action they might try to take against me?" Exactly. Your request is unlikely to influence their decision of whether to pursue litigation. The legal department of any publicly traded company surely knows that a former employee could even file suit (or grievance, in the case of "administrative remedies") without first requesting his personnel records. Therefore, your request is no real indicator [to the company] of whether you intend to take legal action.
    – Iñaki Viggers
    May 10, 2021 at 9:00
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I found out that my former employer is REQUIRED to fulfill this kind of request (in California): https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/employment-record-request/

I still can't tell if such a request is likely to spook them though. According to the aforementioned page, people usually make such requests when they are preparing to litigate. My current conjecture is that they would rather not launch a "first strike" against me; if they became concerned that I might take legal action against them somehow (seems unlikely that I'd have a case), they might wait for me to make the first move in case I end up doing nothing.

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Exactly what are these contracts? Are they contracts that you signed on behalf of the company as a duly-authorized officer of that company? If so, the contracts are proprietary to them. If not, you should have made a copy of them immediately as you signed them – or, as is customary, they should have provided you with two identical copies at the time.

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