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Sooner or later in our increasingly litigious environment, many companies face legal hurdles over their maintenance of documents in human resources.
Potential threats lie in handling HR documents in Family Medical Leave Act certifications to job descriptions.
Managers using best practices in compliance, who are aware of the latest trends and avoid common errors, fare the best against civil litigation, criminal allegations and other matters.
Employee Records: Which Ones to Save and for How Long
To minimize legal liability, here’s how to prioritize the most-salient documents:
Equal Employment Opportunity records
Civil rights and EEO or Equal Employment Opportunity laws are, of course, intended to prevent employment discrimination.
Such documents for each position should be maintained apart from employee and medical records.
Records for both employees and applicants should be kept.
Best Practices with HR Records to Guard against Legal Risks
Applicant records must be kept in the event applicants later sue the organization over mistakes in interviews. Mistakes usually involve asking the wrong types of questions.
It’s advisable to maintain such records for at least two years after hiring decisions are made – not just when people apply.
Employee files
It’s vital to keep employee-agreement files for a minimum of seven years.
Benefit and disability records should be kept for four years.
Employee and group-insurance data should maintained for six years.
Medical information
Employee medical records must be maintained separately from the employees’ files in order to stay in compliance with The Americans with Disability Act.
Best Practices for Disaster Planning Include HR, Payroll
Companies must establish a documented culture of safety to avert issues. That’s because countless personal injuries are a magnet for employee lawsuits involving worker’s compensation insurance.
Payroll information
You probably know how sensitive pay is to employees.
Problems can easily arise from hours worked, time cards, overtime, pay rates and total wages paid in pay periods.
Guidelines to Meet FLSA Responsibilities for Remote Workers
Special attention must be paid to overtime pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act has overtime requirements for non-salaried or hourly workers.
I-9 documents
I-9 documents must also be maintained separately for a period of three years or for one year after the employee leaves.
Companies must use I-9 documents to verify employment eligibility.
Naturally, the documents can’t be to discriminate in an applicant’s citizenship, immigration status or national origin.
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When Companies Must Pay Overtime for Commute, Travel — Figuring out how much money to pay your non-exempt employees and when to pay them for commute and travel time is a multifarious matter.
Without knowing it, it’s easy for you to become noncompliant with FLSA.
Your Expense and Tax Obligations with Remote Workers — While there are advantages for employers with a remote staff, there are numerous financial issues to consider when you employ telecommuting employees. You need a written agreement. Here’s an overview.
Tips to Guarantee You’re Complying with IRS on W-4s — When it comes to withholding, are you in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service? With the changes brought by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it’s important to review your payroll approach.
“The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.”
-J. Paul Getty
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