Hiring Employees

Checklist for Hiring Employees

How to determine which employment records must be retained and for how long

Regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission require that employers keep all personnel or employment records for one year. If an employee is involuntarily terminated, his/her personnel records must be retained for one year from the date of termination.

Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act recordkeeping requirements, employers must also keep all payroll records for three years. Additionally, employers must keep on file any employee benefit plan (such as pension and insurance plans) and any written seniority or merit system for the full period the plan or system is in effect and for at least one year after its termination.

These federal non-discrimination laws also include filing requirements.

For information concerning what records you must keep as an employer, go to the EEOC website.

Employers must also keep records under Federal Wage and Hour Laws. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor has separate lists of records employers must maintain for two years and three years.