Keep in mind that certain local or state laws or situations may require you to keep records longer. For example, depending on your state, the requirements for maintaining unemployment insurance records vary from four to seven years. You can streamline employee recordkeeping by using convenient web-based tools, such as HRdirect Smart Apps. Putting your records in the cloud means important files are always at your fingertips, without taking up physical space in your office.
You gain instant access to employee data from wherever you have an internet connection. Plus, you can allow employees to enter or update their personal information, for added recordkeeping convenience. Her career in HR began in as an HR manager at a small marketing firm.
Extremely passionate about HR, she is full of ideas to improve HR in small businesses. She is focused on developing next-generation products to replace traditional HR solutions, making HR management easier for employers. FUN FACT: Jaime enjoys shopping for shoes and handbags, but she is also highly competitive against her friends in their fantasy football league. Make sure to add our address smartapps hrdirectapps. We couldn't sign you up. Please report this error to support hrdirectapps.
A Review of Recordkeeping Guidelines To stay on sound legal ground, follow these retention guidelines for essential employee records: Hiring records — At least one year. About the Author. Jaime Lizotte. Simply tossing employment records in the trash creates a significant risk of theft or misuse of employee information that may result in regulatory investigations, fines, potential civil lawsuits, bad publicity and damage to the employer's brand.
When employment records contain personally identifiable information PII such as a name, address, Social Security number, etc. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Reuse Permissions. Page Content. Overview Record-keeping requirements can be confusing given that there are numerous regulations that govern some aspect of employer record-keeping and retention.
Records and Reports. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Delete Cancel. You have successfully removed bookmark. Delete canceled. Please log in as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks. OK Proceed. Your session has expired. Please log in as a SHRM member. Cancel Sign In.
Please purchase a SHRM membership before saving bookmarks. OK Join. An error has occurred. From Email. To Email. Send Cancel Close. HR Daily Newsletter News, trends and analysis, as well as breaking news alerts, to help HR professionals do their jobs better each business day. Contact Us SHRM Page Information Page Properties. Generally, records do not include drafts or documents that are works in progress, only final versions of documents.
Identify the retention period for each category of documents. Certain records may be governed by more than one law; however, the periods of retention often vary, making it generally advisable to retain the information for the longest period required. Records related to pending claims or litigation should be retained until the matter is fully resolved.
Knowing how long to retain records and which records you can archive or destroy is important to maintaining a manageable, efficient, compliant employee document repository. This chart shows the employee documents you should maintain for job applicants and employees, along with minimum retention requirements following their separation or rejection from employment.
Many legal and financial advisors recommend retaining documents for longer periods. It's OK to set longer horizons for disposing of documents. The important thing is to deal with them consistently across all HR processes. You need to retain documents on applicants and hires to ensure that you're not discriminating against qualified candidates.
Discrimination can be intentional or caused by policies with a "disparate impact" on protected employees. For example, you may require an English literacy test for employees who don't need advanced English skills, a practice that disproportionately eliminates candidates based on national origin.
If you run criminal background checks or credit checks, tread cautiously. You need to keep only pages with signatures. You're responsible for IDs, but you don't have to copy them. If you do copy IDs, you must do so consistently for all employees, store them securely, and destroy them when the retention period ends. All signed contracts should be kept in your employees' personnel files to document your policies and agreements.
This is important for defending your company from complaints and lawsuits. If new contracts replace old ones, keep the current copy in the file and destroy the old version. This includes doctors' notes, accommodation requests for medical conditions, and other medical information provided by employees. Keep all performance assessments and disciplinary records on file for at least two years. This documentation can protect you in case of complaints regarding promotions and compensation.
It also supports best practices in managing employees consistently, fairly, and legally. The IRS, however, requires payroll tax records to be stored for four years, and state tax laws may prescribe an even longer retention period.
To be safe, it's best to store all of these records for seven years. Employee records are protected by a network of state and federal laws such as the FLSA. Source: dol. Under antidiscrimination and wage and hour laws, all documents concerning an employee's resignation or termination should be kept for one year after separation from employment.
Nonmedical benefit records including enrollment forms and plans may be discarded after one year. You must take steps to protect employees' financial or personal identifying data, so some of these records may require secure storage. The FMLA requires employers to retain leave requests for at least three years, including documentation of reasons for leave.
Any records with medical information must be stored securely. OSHA requires employers to securely store records of accidents for five years. Workplace exposure to hazardous substances must be retained for 30 years because of potential long-term health effects. Anytime an employee complains or files a lawsuit, you must retain related records until the claim is resolved.
Your document management system should put an automatic hold on an employee's personnel file following a complaint to avoid accidentally destroying any relevant documents. Department of Labor, the IRS, and other federal agencies, as well as state authorities, enforce record-keeping requirements with citations and fines.
For example, record-keeping errors are the second-most common violation cited by OSHA. Failing to keep documents such as payroll records can even lead to criminal charges. Legal liability: If an employee sues and you can't produce records required by the court, you could lose the lawsuit and face additional charges of spoliation of evidence.
An example is an Illinois case, Mohr v. Weather Tech , in which the company discarded an employee's calendar after her termination for excessive absences. The employee sued for discrimination and the calendar was requested during discovery. When the company couldn't produce it, the employee filed a negligent spoliation claim. In this case, the employer won, but that's a lot of time, money, and grief spent over a missing calendar.
A comprehensive HR record management plan lets you direct the flow of employee information through your company to serve your ends. In addition to ensuring legal compliance, careful records management can provide insights to drive HR policies , protect your employees' sensitive information, and reinforce HR best practices.
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