CCP 1985.6 Employment Records: Notice, Objections, and Quash Motions

California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1985.6 is the rule that stops anyone from quietly pulling your employment file through a subpoena. Before an employer can hand over personnel, payroll, or benefits records in response to a civil subpoena, the party asking for them has to serve you with notice at least ten days before the production date, and you get a window to object or ask a court to block or narrow the request.¹

Which Records the Statute Covers

The rule reaches the originals or copies of books, documents, and electronically stored information that relate to a person’s employment and are kept by a current or former employer.¹ In practice that means hiring paperwork, disciplinary write-ups, performance reviews, wage and withholding records, benefits enrollment, and internal correspondence about you. Digital files get the same protection as paper.

Records held by a labor organization that currently or previously represented the employee are covered too, so union grievance files and bargaining correspondence fall inside the statute when a subpoena targets them.¹

One boundary worth knowing: the statute defines “employee” as someone who is or was employed by the entity receiving the subpoena.¹ Independent contractors are not explicitly included, and whether a particular worker qualifies can turn into its own fact-specific dispute.

The Notice You Must Receive

Before any records move, the party issuing the subpoena has to serve you with a package containing a copy of the subpoena, any supporting affidavit, and a formal notice on Judicial Council form SUBP-025.² The notice has to be printed in a typeface designed to stand out, and under subdivision (e) it must tell you four things:¹

that employment records about you are being sought from a named employer or witness;
that the records may be protected by a right of privacy;
that if you want to stop the release, you have to file papers with the court before the production date; and
that if the subpoenaing party will not agree in writing to cancel or limit the subpoena, you should consult an attorney about protecting your privacy.

Timing and Mail Extensions

The notice package has to reach you at least ten days before the production date on the subpoena.¹ When service is by mail, CCP Section 1013 adds extra days on top: five calendar days for service within California, ten for service elsewhere in the United States, and twenty for service outside the country. Service by fax, express mail, or electronic means adds two calendar days.³ These extensions are mandatory. If the subpoenaing party missed the deadline, your notice was not adequate and the production can be challenged on that basis alone.

On the employer’s side, the subpoenaing party also has to deliver a proof of service showing you got the notice, or a written authorization signed by you or your attorney. Without one of those, the employer cannot legally release anything.¹

How to Object Before the Production Date

You have two tools, and which one you can use depends on whether you are a party to the lawsuit.

Motion to Quash or Modify

Any employee whose records are targeted, party or not, can file a motion to quash or modify the subpoena under CCP Section 1987.1.⁴ The motion has to be filed with the court before the production date on the subpoena, and you have to give notice to the employer and the deposition officer at least five days before that date.¹

The court’s authority is broad. It can quash the subpoena entirely, narrow its scope, or allow production subject to conditions, including a protective order designed to prevent unreasonable privacy violations.⁴ The filing fee is $60 as of 2026.⁵

Written Objection for Nonparties

If you are not a party to the lawsuit, you have a simpler path: a written objection stating the specific grounds for withholding the records, served on the subpoenaing party, the deposition officer, and the employer before the production date.¹ Nothing gets filed with the court, so there is no filing fee.

Once the written objection lands, the employer and deposition officer cannot produce the records unless a court orders production or everyone affected agrees. The burden flips to the subpoenaing party, who has twenty days from service of your objection to file a motion to compel.¹ If they let that window pass, the subpoena effectively dies as to those records.

If You Do Nothing

Silence counts as the end of the process. The statute treats the notice period as your window to protect your privacy, and once it closes without a motion or written objection, the employer has no independent obligation to hold the files back. The records go out on the production date.

Protective Orders When Records Will Be Produced

Even records that are legitimately discoverable can carry sensitive content: Social Security numbers, home addresses, medical data, pay history, discipline. CCP Section 1987.1 lets the court issue a protective order to guard against unreasonable privacy violations when it rules on a subpoena motion.⁴

A protective order can restrict who sees the documents, require that copies be returned or destroyed at the end of the case, and prohibit any use beyond the litigation. When the relevance of your records is clear and a full block is unlikely, asking the court to modify the subpoena with a protective order is often the realistic move. Courts tend to be more willing to limit use than to shut production down entirely when the requesting party can show genuine relevance.

Medical Information Mixed Into the File

Employment files sometimes contain doctor’s notes for leave, disability accommodation paperwork, or workers’ compensation records. When health information is caught up in a subpoena, the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule and California’s own medical privacy laws add hurdles beyond CCP 1985.6. Under HIPAA, protected health information can be disclosed in response to a subpoena only if the individual has been notified and given an opportunity to object, or if the requesting party has a qualified protective order. California law is generally more protective of medical privacy than HIPAA, so the stricter California standard controls when the two conflict. Substance abuse treatment records sit under even tighter federal restrictions and often require a specific court order rather than just a subpoena. Flag medical content explicitly in any motion to quash or modify, because courts give health data heightened protection.

The Employer’s Role

If you are on the employer side of this, the gatekeeper duties are narrow but strict. Verify that the package includes a proof of service showing the employee was notified, or a signed written authorization from the employee. If neither is present, refuse to produce. Even with proper documentation, wait until the production date, and if a motion to quash or a written objection arrives before that date, hold the records until a court orders otherwise or the parties agree.¹ Early production is where privacy claims come from.

Federal Court Subpoenas Are Different

If the lawsuit is in federal court rather than California state court, CCP 1985.6 does not apply. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 governs instead, and it has no mandatory pre-service notice requirement running to the employee whose records are being sought.⁶ Rule 45 requires the other litigation parties to receive notice before a document subpoena is served, but that notice goes to the parties, not necessarily to you.

You can still move to quash or modify under Rule 45(d)(3) if the subpoena calls for privileged information or imposes an undue burden.⁶ The practical gap matters: in state court you always get a heads-up and a window to react; in federal court the records can be produced before you learn the subpoena exists.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1985.6 – Subpoena Duces Tecum for Employment Records
2
California Courts. Notice to Consumer or Employee and Objection (SUBP-025)
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 1013 – Notices, and Filing and Service of Papers
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1987.1
5
Judicial Council of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
6
Legal Information Institute. Rule 45 Subpoena