Website design By BotEap.comRecord keeping plays an essential role in running any business. A wide range of information about employees must be retained for numerous reasons. This includes the ability to facilitate the efficient and effective management of human resources, advocate for employment decisions when the need arises, and comply with numerous federal and state laws.

Website design By BotEap.comAll records must be kept for a mandatory minimum number of years. The timing varies from document to document, but in all cases, employers must ensure that records are stored in a secure location that only authorized personnel can access. Once their deletion is allowed, care must be taken that they are destroyed in an appropriate manner, either by shredding, completely erasing from digital storage, or otherwise.

Website design By BotEap.comThe following is a detailed analysis of the various categories of records that require preservation:

Website design By BotEap.comrecruitment records

Website design By BotEap.comHiring records include external advertisements and internal postings for open positions, job applications submitted to employment agencies, resumes, applications, interview screenings, pre-employment testing, and reference checks. The records of a person you decide to hire must be filed in the person’s personnel file. If an employer does not hire the person, the person must store the records in an applicant file.

Website design By BotEap.comDocuments related to hiring records must be retained for a minimum of 2 years after the employment relationship has ended, as required by Title VII, FEHA, ADA, and ADEA.

Website design By BotEap.comEmployee Personnel Files

Website design By BotEap.comEmployee personnel files must include the employee’s title, classification, and job description. The file should also contain the job offer letter, performance observations and evaluations, promotions, demotions, attendance records, notices of absence, disciplinary notices, transfers, layoffs and withdrawals, training , tests (including certificates), requests for reasonable accommodations. and acknowledgments of company policy and manual.

Website design By BotEap.comPersonal files must be kept in an exceptionally secure location for a period of 3 years after the termination of the employment relationship.

Website design By BotEap.comEmployee wage records

Website design By BotEap.comEmployee wage records include wage rate calculation tables, piece rates, individual employee hours and days, time cards, shift schedules, and any records that clarify the gender pay gap.

Website design By BotEap.comEmployers must retain employee wage records for at least 4 years, in accordance with the California Labor Code, the EPA (Equal Pay Act) and the FLSA (Fair Labor and Standards Act).

Website design By BotEap.compayroll records

Website design By BotEap.comPayroll records consist of name, date of birth, address, SSN, definition of work, terms and conditions of employment, rates of pay, union and employee contracts, child labor certificates and notices, the start and end of each work week, total daily and pay period hours, total wages paid on each payroll, net wages and deductions, meal periods, and split shift schedules.

Website design By BotEap.comPayroll records must be kept for at least 4 years after the termination of the employment relationship.

Website design By BotEap.compolygraph test for employees

Website design By BotEap.comAlthough the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) generally restricts the routine use of lie detector tests, they are used from time to time, such as in a robbery investigation by a employee.

Website design By BotEap.comThe law requires employers to keep a copy of the statement given to employees stating the reason for the test, the incident under investigation, the loss suffered by the employer, the notice given to a polygraph examiner naming the person or persons to be examined, the nature of the employee’s access to the person or property under investigation, and all documentation related to the actual evidence.

Website design By BotEap.comA statement stating that an examination was requested may be placed in personnel files, but the remaining related documentation must be stored in a separate, confidential filing system for a minimum of 3 years.

Website design By BotEap.comAs we always recommend with these sensitive and complex employment laws, it is best to consult with a professional human resources consultant or specialist to review policies and confirm that your record keeping practices are in compliance.

Website design By BotEap.comIn our next article, we’ll continue our investigation of the various records that require preservation, examine exceptions to standard record-keeping practices, and uncover the consequences of negligent record-keeping.