 |
|
HR Hot Topics |
Document Retention
HR departments receive, generate, and accumulate substantial volumes of documents such as job postings, employment applications, resumes, reference checks, testing data, personnel files, wage and hour records, payroll records, and disciplinary files. While it would be nice to purge those documents when the filing cabinet becomes overcrowded, a myriad of federal, state, and local laws and regulations require that certain personnel records, whether stored electronically or on paper, be kept for a specified period of time and even well after the termination of an employee's employment. Related articles on Document Retention It's also important to understand the requirements for preserving electronic documents that might become part of litigation to make sure you are retaining the records you need to keep. Some employment laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also have provisions regarding document destruction. It's important for you to become familiar with all relevant federal and state record retention laws. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, covered employers must retain personnel or employment records they made or keep them for one year from the date the record was made or from when an action was taken (e.g., termination), whichever is later. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), also has separate retention standards for records containing specific employee information. To further complicate things, separate rules also apply for different categories of employers. Employment agencies for example, must keep records on placements, referrals, job orders by employers, applications, test papers completed by applicants as part of the selection process, and advertisements or notices relating to job openings. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also have separate, rigid requirements for retention of certain documents relating to an individual’s employment, such as payroll slips, timesheets or others documents on which wage computations are based, any records relating to any leave time the employee has taken, and documentation of employee benefits. There are also record retention requirements for documents such as EEO-1 reports and tax records. Check your state's employment laws, such as workers' compensation laws, also because they may have record retention requirements or statutes of limitations that are different than federal requirements.
Related articles on Document Retention from the State Employment Law Letters
|
designates additional valuable resources available exclusively to Employment Law Letter subscribers