University of Pittsburgh of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education v. Department of Labor & Industry

# University of Pittsburgh v. Department of Labor & Industry ## What Happened A worker at the University of Pittsburgh requested to see letters written about them during a promotion decision process. Under Pennsylvania law, employees can inspect their personnel files. The worker argued that referee letters—written by outside experts to evaluate their qualifications for promotion—should be included in these files. The University disagreed, saying these letters were protected recommendations, not performance evaluations. ## What the Court Decided The Pennsylvania court sided with the University. The court ruled that external referee letters used for promotion decisions are recommendation letters, not official performance evaluations. Therefore, these letters don't have to be included in personnel files that workers can inspect. ## Why This Matters for Workers This decision limits workers' right to see all documents used to make employment decisions about them. When universities (and potentially other employers) seek outside opinions for promotions, workers typically cannot view those letters. This means employees may not know what was said about them during important career decisions, making it harder to understand or challenge promotion denials.