Doe v. Entergy Services, Inc.Doe v. Entergy Services, Inc.
Elena C. Goletz, New Orleans, for defendant/appellee.
Before CIACCIO, WARD and ARMSTRONG, JJ.
ARMSTRONG, Judge.
On appeal, plaintiff, Norman Doe (“Doe“), claims the trial court erred in granting the peremptory exception of defendant, Entergy Services, Inc. (“Entergy“), and in dismissing his petition for its failure to state a cause of action. Doe contends that his petition against his employer, to force the removal of certain documents from his personnel file and/or from the personnel files of his co-workers, sets forth a cause of action in equity. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the dismissal of his petition.
Plaintiff filed suit against his employer, Entergy, under the fictitious name of Norman Doe.1 His petition alleges that he has worked for Entergy for more than six years. It also alleges that the personnel files which Entergy keeps on him, on co-workers Alphonse Jackson (“Jackson“) and/or Debbie Travis (“Travis“), and possibly on others, contain certain documents with “complaints, allegations, alleged facts, and/or reports arising from or allegedly relating to either Alphonse Jackson and/or Debbie Travis.” As the information is allegedly not necessary or relevant to his work function and could potentially cause damage if discovered by third-parties, Doe‘s petition seeks to have “all records sanitized; that is to remove records other than those type of records kept in the regular course of business, ie, [sic] the application form for the job or for promotions, the annual performance evaluations, ...” His petition further seeks that “any reference to petitioner in a derogatory sense in any other file personnel or otherwise at [Entergy] be deleted and that the entire documentation be destroyed, (including any records of defendant‘s attorneys) such that there will be no trail of allegations made by these or other parties to petitioner.” Contemporaneous with filing the petition, Doe also filed a motion for the production of the personnel records of himself, Jackson and Travis, and/or of any other files held by Entergy pertinent to this matter.
Entergy responded by excepting to Doe‘s petition on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action for which the law affords relief. Entergy asserted that, as an employer, the maintenance or removal of documents pertaining to an employee‘s workplace conduct or misconduct is solely within its purview. Louisiana‘s courts have implicitly recognized the employer‘s right to maintain disciplinary histories on employees. It contended that, when it is necessary to discipline or counsel an employee, employers have a legitimate interest in documenting employee counseling sessions for future reference.2
Entergy also filed a motion to quash Doe‘s motion for production of documents. Entergy alerted the court that it had previously, voluntarily provided Doe the right to
After trying Entergy‘s peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action and the motion to quash the request for production of documents, the trial court granted the exception and dismissed the suit at Doe‘s cost. The court indicated that Doe could cite no law which authorized the relief he sought. In absence of positive law, the court found for defendant. The ruling rendered the motion to quash moot.
Doe‘s appellate brief claims the trial court erred in granting the exception since his petition sets forth a cause of action in equity. Specifically, he claims the trial court erred in granting the exception because he has a right 1) to obtain and copy his employment records; 2) to have “his records sanitized after some reasonable period of time;” 3) to have any false and scandalous materials mentioning his name removed from his employer‘s records; 4) to file in his personnel file and/or other records of his employer, his version of an alleged wrong; and 5) to receive notification prior to the disbursement to third parties any corporate records referencing his name. He also claims the trial court erred in granting the motion to quash.
The purpose of the peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action is to determine the legal sufficiency of the petition. No evidence may be offered at any time to support or controvert the exception.
Under these precepts, several of Doe‘s appellate arguments are not germane to our review. Doe‘s petition does not raise allegations relative to his right to obtain and copy his employment records; to file in his personnel employment file and/or other records of his employer, his version of an alleged wrong; to have any “false and scandalous materials” mentioning his name removed from his employer‘s records; or to receive notification prior to the disbursement to third parties any corporate records referencing his name. As the exception is tried on the face of the pleadings, the merits of his arguments on those issues are not pertinent to determining whether the trial court erred in finding his petition fails to state a cause of action.
Doe‘s petition alleges that his personnel file and those of Jackson and/or Travis, and possibly on others, contain certain documents with “complaints, allegations, alleged facts, and/or reports arising from or allegedly relating to either [Jackson] and/or [Travis].” He alleges the information is not necessary or relevant to his work function and could cause him damage if discovered by third-parties. Therefore, he requests that all of Entergy‘s records referencing him be “sanitized” so there will be “no trail of allegations made by these or other parties to petitioner.” He claims a right, based in equity, to purge his personnel file of all information regarding complaints and allegations against him which could potentially cause him damage if discovered by third parties.
In Louisiana, the sources of law are legislation and custom.
Our legislature has not enacted rules of law on the maintenance and contents of employer personnel files on employees. But see
Correlative to its right to maintain personnel files on its employees, is the employer‘s right to determine the contents and the elimination of the contents of those files. It is custom that it is the employer‘s purview to decide when to remove stale or unnecessary documentation from employee records. As custom regulates the issue, it is unnecessary for us to contrive secondary law on the subject by resorting to equity.
Doe‘s petition does not allege that the documents he seeks to have removed from Entergy‘s employment records are false or defamatory. Rather, it alleges the documents contain “complaints, allegations, alleged facts, and/or reports,” the information is not necessary or relevant to his work function, and it could “potentially” cause him damage if discovered by third-parties. On that basis, he demands the sanitization of this information from all Entergy records or documents and, further, seeks to have all documents other than those type of records kept in the regular course of business, i.e., his job application form, his annual performance evaluations, removed from his file. Accepting these allegations as true and applying Louisiana law as derived from custom, we find the face of Doe‘s petition does not state a cause of action. Thus, the trial court did not err in granting Entergy‘s exception.
Whitney Nat. Bank v. Jeffers, supra. Doe has not alleged additional facts which would constitute a cause of action. Thus,
Doe‘s second contention is the trial court erred in quashing his motion for production of documents. The trial court did not quash the motion. As previously stated, the trial court found that sustaining the peremptory exception rendered the motion moot. After our review, it remains moot.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment dismissing Doe‘s suit at his cost is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.