When it comes to retaining personnel records of any sort, some people may panic as it can be very overwhelming trying to decipher the different records retention requirements. The best way to go about ensuring that your organization is compliant with the state and federal record retention requirements is to develop a policy surrounding personnel records retention. Even though there may be some rules and regulations surrounding how long you must legally retain staff records, particularly after an employee terminates, a good rule of thumb is to follow the state’s statute of limitations on contract, fraud, and/or tort claims. In most states, this time will not usually exceed seven years. This is a good timeframe to follow even though some of the federal regulations stipulate three years for keeping personnel records.
