The intent of my post this morning was to stimulate some good old
fashioned debate about ethics in our profession. My initial post refers
to my current job duties and is neither a defense nor vilification of
one person, or even this particular event.
I certainly agree that depending on the organization you work (or
worked) for, you may be able to take records with you when you leave
their employ...that is certainly the prerogative of private companies.
I think it is far more likely that a Records Manager is tasked with
making sure that a terminated employee, even themselves, not take
records with them they are not expressly authorized to take.
Regarding public, or government agencies at any level, I think I can
speak as a citizen that I would expect a current or former public
employee to file a FOIA request to obtain public records instead of
procuring those records on their own simply because they may have daily
access to those public records. The FOIA request in itself is a public
record that would not exist if public employees are allowed to
circumvent that process, even if it seems expedient to do so.
Regarding the PG&E mess that is happening now, what I understand from
the SF Examiner article (http://bit.ly/isf9nW) was that the memo's in
question were produced by PG&E in response to subpoena - they weren't
trying to hide them. The SJ Mercury News article
(http://bit.ly/lcqSsX) seems to imply an earlier production of those
records by a former PG&E employee, perhaps by subpoena or with PG&E's
approval, to U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough.
Without getting personal, I do believe there is room on a collaborative
professional listserv to debate the ethics of our profession. I am not a
CRM, but would recommend to my colleagues reading the ICRM Code of
Ethics (http://www.icrm.org/about/code-of-ethics/).
Stephen M. Garner
Records Manager
1400 First Federal Plaza
Rochester, NY 14614
Phone 585 756 3055
Fax 585 758 0207
[log in to unmask]
http://www.phillipslytle.com/
Circular 230 Disclosure: Under IRS standards of professional practice, certain U.S. federal tax advice must meet with the requirements as to form and substance. To comply with these standards, we advise you that this communication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties.
This electronic transmission and any attachments hereto are intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential information belonging to the sender which is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you have reason to believe that you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this electronic transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have reason to believe that you have received this transmission in error, please notify us, Phillips Lytle LLP, immediately by return e-mail and delete and destroy this communication.
WARNING: E-mail communications cannot be guaranteed to be timely, secure, error-free or virus-free. The recipient of this communication should check this e-mail and each attachment for the presence of viruses. Phillips Lytle LLP does not accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this electronic communication which arises as a result of e-mail transmission.
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Tod Chernikoff
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RAINbyte] PG&E knew about its shoddy record-keeping of
natural gas pipelines as early as 1992 - San Jose Mercury News
In some organizations, public and private, departing employees are
permitted to take copies of certain documents, or records.
I do not have the details of what is permitted at the employer in
question, but a blanket statement that no one is ever allowed to depart
any employer or organization with materials or (copies of) documents
would not be accurate.
In public service such allowances would be even more likely as many
records of our government entities are available under freedom of
information requests.
Tod Chernikoff, CRM
[log in to unmask]
www.twitter.com/tchernik
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]
|
