48-612 Employers; records and reports required; privileged communications; violation; penalty. - Nebraska Statutes

48-612. Employers; records and reports required; privileged communications; violation; penalty.(1) Each employer, whether or not subject to the Employment Security Law, shall keep true and accurate work records containing such information as the Commissioner of Labor may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection and be subject to being copied by the commissioner or his or her authorized representatives at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary. The commissioner and the appeal tribunal may require from any such employer any sworn or unsworn reports, with respect to persons employed by it, which he, she, or it deems necessary for the effective administration of such law. Except as otherwise provided in section 48-612.01, information thus obtained or obtained from any individual pursuant to the administration of such law shall be held confidential. (2) Any employee of the commissioner who violates any provision of sections 48-606 to 48-616 shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor. (3) All letters, reports, communications, or any other matters, either oral or written, from an employer or his or her workers to each other or to the commissioner or any of his or her agents, representatives, or employees which shall have been written or made in connection with the requirements and administration of the Employment Security Law, or the rules and regulations thereunder, shall be absolutely privileged and shall not be made the subject matter or basis for any suit for slander or libel in any court of this state, unless the same be false in fact and malicious in intent. SourceLaws 1937, c. 108, § 11, p. 392; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-711; R.S.1943, § 48-612; Laws 1945, c. 115, § 2, p. 381; Laws 1977, LB 40, § 290; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 11; Laws 1993, LB 757, § 31; Laws 2001, LB 192, § 5; Laws 2007, LB265, § 6.AnnotationsInformation provided to the Department of Labor in connection with the requirements of the Employment Security Law is privileged and cannot be the basis for a libel suit unless the information is both false and malicious. Molt v. Lindsay Mfg. Co., 248 Neb. 81, 532 N.W.2d 11 (1995).