Bill to protect employee privacy advances in House

AFSCME-backed legislation that would preserve the confidentiality of employee performance evaluations passed out of the House State Government Committee on March 3.

Sponsored by Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), HB 5154 would repeal the provision of recently-enacted legislation that allows any member of the public to view any public employee’s performance evaluation via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Carbondale) and Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) voted against the measure.

“We’re very pleased that the committee recognized that employee performance evaluations should not be made routinely available to anyone who wants to see them, “ said AFSCME Council 31 political director, Jason Kay, who lobbied the committee to support the legislation. “There is no valid reason for these documents to be made widely available.” 

Click here to view Council 31’s most recent Legislative Update on bills of importance to AFSCME members.