No federal law grants employees the right to inspect their personnel files. However, many states do give employees such rights and spell out the terms under which employees are allowed to inspect those files.
Maintenance of Employee Files. Employee files should be stored in a secure location and be kept strictly confidential. Access should be restricted to those with a legitimate need to know or as required by law. Several categories of records must be maintained according to specific requirements.
Aside from the right to review his or her personnel file, an employee is entitled to request copies of this information. The employer is prohibited from making a profit over the provision of copies.
An employer must respond to a request for copies of a current or former employee's personnel file within 30 calendar days of receiving the request. Similarly, an employer must comply with a request for payroll records within 21 calendar days of receiving a request.
A short-term job that helped you pay some bills while you sought full-time work can likely be left off your resume. You should never omit relevant jobs (or any information) from a resume that will cause an employer to be misled in any way. Perhaps they were fired from a previous job, or left a job on bad terms.
Employee Records Employers Must Keep
| Information | Retention requirement | Law |
|---|
| Date of birth of all employees | 3 years | ADEA |
| Gender of employee | 3 years | FLSA Equal Pay Act |
| Occupation of employee | 3 years | FLSA Equal Pay Act ADEA |
| Age records | No time period specified by law | ERISA |
Private employers must retain records for one year from the date of making the record or the personnel action involved, whichever occurs later, but in the case of involuntary termination of an employee, they must retain the terminated employee's personnel or employment records for one year from the date of termination.
Keep all job application records, including job descriptions, ads, resumes, pre-employment screenings, and offer (or rejection) letters for at least one year from the hiring date (or rejection date). Employment contracts should be kept for at least three years.
Employers are required to keep written records about each employee for a certain time period. Regardless, these records have to be readily available for a Ministry of Labour employment standards officer. For more information on the records that employers are required to keep, see Record keeping.
Never store employee medical records in the employee's general personnel file. Because of the confidentiality of the information, records must be isolated from files that employees such as supervisors or managers may access.
Generally speaking, hang onto bills and bank statements for at least two years, and insurance documents as long as they are valid. When it comes to tax-related paperwork like pay slips, P45s and so on, HMRC suggests keeping them for at least 22 months from the end of the tax year they relate to.
The retention period for court documents also changes by state. The time can vary between days to six months to ten years to fifty years. The American Bar Association has created the Modern Rule which sets standards for how a lawyer is to retain their client's legal documents after a case is closed.
