Aloha Nancy,
I think the most important thing to do is to determine what
records/items/artifacts are the company's records and what are his
personal property. Once you've made that separation, you can provide
the personal items to the man's family so they can proceed to close this
painful chapter in their lives. As Peter noted, there "may" be things
amongst the personal items that the man MAY not want his family to see,
but that's not your obligation or responsibility to determine that...
As for the "company" records found, you will need to go through the same
process you would do in encountering any "new" records situation and do
an "inventory" of what is found in paper and electronic form. Once you
have that done, you can apply whatever existing retention or company
policies regarding the future disposition of the records.
Definitely not a fun thing to do especially if you go through their
desks, etc. and find personal items...
Good luck and my prayers go out to the man and his family...
Brian
Brian A. Moriki
Assistant Vice-President & Manager
Records Management Department
First Hawaiian Bank
P.O. Box 1959
Honolulu, HI 96805
808-844-3056
808-844-3953 (fax)
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Nancy Freeman
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: employee sudden death
All,
I've debated posting this for the last day and decided to as I really
want to make sure I'm not missing anything. The background....I work
for a wildlife research facility for the USDA. Over the weekend, a
long-term
(17 years) employee died in a car accident. He supervised 4 people and
was head of a program unit. Our organization is small, with about 90 on
our main campus, a total of about 120 employees. This death is
obviously distressing to staff.
I've been involved since early in the week regarding this man's records.
This morning, I and 2 of his colleagues, began going through his office.
They are focusing on subject matter, such as his research studies. I,
of course, am focusing on his personnel files and the files of those he
supervised. Our HR person says that things like his own Time &
Attendance, travel vouchers, etc. are personal effects and go to the
family. Just to be clear, these items are copies and the originals
remain with the office of record to live out retention. This man's
family if from out of state and probably will come next week to pick up
items.
There is a lap-top or two floating around that this man used. They are
being taken care of according to our policies. To me, the easy things
are his 1998 tax return folder that will go to his family. Or his drawer
of clearly personal things such as toothbrush and toothpaste. I won't
go into how hard this is on many levels. Not only is it difficult on an
emotional level, he wasn't all that organized with his records and has
many, many piles in his office. The piles are a "mixed bag" of work,
personnel things, etc.
I'm sure some of you have dealt with this. Am I covering all the bases?
Missing anything? Oh, yes, his office door will be locked now, probably
should have been on Monday, after office hours.
Many thanks,
Nancy Freeman, Records Manager/Archivist National Wildlife Research
Center
4101 LaPorte Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80521
(970) 266-6023
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