Old Personnel Files

“I’ve been in business for nearly 20 years and have had quite a number of employees throughout that time. As space becomes more costly, I’m trying to get rid of old files. Looking at all the boxes of old personnel records, I’m wondering if it’s okay to toss them out.”

My HR Survival Tip

Yikes, can I mention the vision of a bunch of boxes sitting in a corner of your warehouse scares me? Even old employee information remains confidential so those old files need to be locked up rather than just stored in boxes.

Old files really can take up a lot of space that’s costly to maintain… but it may be more costly to lose backup you may need. You never want to toss something that could be the proof you needed to withstand a legal claim. Legally, there minimum retention periods for certain types of documents, such as:

• 2 years: Recruitment, hiring, and job placement documents (resumes, job applications, ads, testing, etc.).
• 3 years: Employee wage records (timecards, schedules, employment contracts, etc.).
• 3 years: FMLA documentation.
• 3 years from hire or 1 year after termination, whichever is later: I-9 forms.
• 3 years after termination: Employee files (disciplinary notices, reviews, promotions or demotions, training, testing, etc.).
• 4 years: Payroll records (payroll reports, salary changes, unemployment, etc.); EDD can audit you going back 4 years for any claim regarding wage and hour laws.
• 5 years: Employee health documents (first aid records, alcohol and drug testing, etc.).
• 6 years but not less than 1 year after plan termination: Employee benefit plan information (benefit elections, beneficiary designations, waivers, COBRA documentation, summary plan descriptions, etc.).
• Forever: Documents I’d keep for a very long time are those you put in place originally to protect your company, such as Non-Disclosure Agreements, Invention Assignments, etc.

Some companies are starting to scan personnel documents so they only take up digital storage space. However, the validity of digital copies hasn’t yet been fully tested in court. If that employee’s signature on a document was really important to you, consider keeping the hard copy a while longer.