HR record-keeping requirements in the United States
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Federal and state law require US employers to retain specific employment records for defined minimum periods — failure to comply can expose a business to fines, lost litigation, and agency audits. The rules come from multiple overlapping sources: federal statutes, IRS guidance, and state-level requirements that often go further.
The core federal framework
Several federal agencies set their own retention rules, and they do not always align neatly.
FLSA records. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, and records on which wage computations are based for at least three years. Time cards, work schedules, and records that explain wage deductions must be kept for two years.
EEOC / Title VII records. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires employers to retain any personnel or employment record — including job applications, promotion and demotion records, and termination records — for at least one year from the date the record was made or the action taken. If a charge of discrimination or a lawsuit is filed, you must preserve all relevant records until the matter is fully resolved, regardless of how long that takes.
ADEA records. Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, employers with 20 or more employees must keep payroll records for three years and certain other employment records (job applications, test results, job orders) for one year. Benefit plan records must be kept for the full duration of the plan plus one year after termination.
FMLA records. Employers covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act must keep FMLA-related documents — including leave notices, medical certifications, and related payroll records — for three years.
I-9 forms. Every employer must retain a completed Form I-9 for each employee for three years after the hire date or one year after the employment ends, whichever is later.
IRS and payroll records
The IRS expects employers to keep records sufficient to support the tax returns and filings they submit. As a practical floor, retain employment tax records for at least four years after the due date of the return or the date the tax was paid, whichever is later.
Those records include: amounts and dates of all wage payments, the employee's name, address, Social Security number, occupation, and dates of employment; copies of Form W-4 elections; records of allocated tips; and documentation supporting any fringe benefits provided.
You are also required to file Form W-2 with employees and the Social Security Administration by January 31 each year, file Form 941 quarterly, and issue Form 1099-NEC to eligible contractors. Keeping copies of these filed forms, and the underlying data that supports them, is part of the IRS expectation. If you work with a payroll provider — how Mellow runs payroll across six countries — confirm clearly who holds the audit trail and for how long.
Benefits and ERISA records
If you offer a retirement plan, health plan, or other benefit plan covered by ERISA, the record-keeping bar rises. ERISA requires plan administrators to keep sufficient records to determine the benefits owed to each participant. The Department of Labor interprets this to mean retaining records related to plan participation, contributions, and benefit calculations for at least six years from the date of the filing to which the records relate.
Summary plan descriptions, plan documents, and amendments should be kept indefinitely or at least for the life of the plan plus six years.
State-level requirements
State rules frequently exceed federal minimums. California, for example, requires employers to retain payroll records for at least three years and to provide employees access to their own personnel files on request. New York imposes similar payroll retention requirements and has additional obligations tied to its wage theft prevention rules. Some states require you to keep records of written wage notices you provided to each employee at hire.
Before settling on a single retention schedule, check the specific requirements for every state where you have employees. Using the longest applicable period as your standard is a defensible and administratively simple approach.
Practical record-keeping hygiene
A few principles that reduce compliance risk across the board:
- Separate medical records from general personnel files. The ADA and HIPAA require that medical information be kept confidential and stored separately from performance and employment records.
- Litigation holds override standard schedules. Once you reasonably anticipate a claim, audit, or lawsuit, stop any routine destruction of relevant records immediately.
- Document your retention policy in writing. A written policy that defines categories, retention periods, and destruction procedures gives you a defensible position in an audit and helps managers apply rules consistently.
- Secure storage matters. Whether paper or digital, employment records contain sensitive personal data. Limit access to people with a legitimate business need and ensure digital records have adequate backup and access controls.
The general rule of thumb used by many employment attorneys: when in doubt, keep it longer. Storage is cheap; missing records in litigation or an audit are not.
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