Q: How long must I keep my placement files?
Three years has worked well, and conforms to the universally known IRS tax record retention period.
The federal, state, and local record retention periods range from one to five years. With so many legal and administrative rules, a three-year period should suffice for job orders, resumes, and any candidate background checks.
Of course, if you know an issue has arisen or is likely to arise, retain all documents for that year forward to the present.
There are serious, separate penalties for the failure to keep employment records and transactions.
If you don’t maintain accurate written records of all job orders backing up all Internet job postings, you’re asking for trouble. You also must keep files on all responses, sendouts, e-mail correspondence, and everything else relating to these transactions regardless of whether or not you place anyone.
Under the federal law, these records must be maintained for at least one year. (29 CFR 1602.14 and 29 CFR 1627.2, et seq.)
So our general suggestion is to maintain everything meticulously for three years. But check with your local law library or lawyer for specific record retention periods.
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