No. 4085
Subject: Guidelines for Retention of Wage Employee Personnel Records
Rev. 1
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Policy and Procedures
Date: September 8, 2000
The intent of these guidelines is to set forth procedures to safeguard the collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of personal information pertaining to wage employee records, including hours worked, as permitted or required by law to be so collected, maintained, used or disseminated. The official workweek for the University is Friday at midnight to the following Friday at midnight.
Wage records, both in manual and automated format, must be maintained with accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and pertinence to assure fairness in determinations relating to wage employees. Safeguards have been established to secure the records from any reasonably foreseeable security threats. These guidelines clearly assign wage employee records management responsibilities to the hiring department, Personnel Services Office, and Payroll Office.
In addition to compliance with the Department of Human Resources Management (DHRM), Policy 6.10, Personnel Records Management and Policy 6.05, Personnel Records Disclosure, the University's management of wage employees personnel records adheres to Guideline 4080, Guidelines for the Release of Personnel Services Department Records, describing the University's release of official records under The Virginia Freedom Of Information Act and the Privacy Protection Act Of 1976.
Files to be maintained on wage employees should contain, at a minimum, the state application form, the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9), the original agency forms used to initiate personnel transactions, and hours worked records. It is the intent of these guidelines to clearly communicate responsibilities for maintaining and safeguarding records at the department level.
Personnel records are to be maintained in a secure location and access to the information in them is to be restricted only to authorized department representatives. All wage employee manual and automated record systems must be maintained in a manner that safeguards the records from disclosure to others in compliance with Guideline 4080, Guideline for the Release of Personnel Services Department Records; DHRM Policy 6.10, Personnel Records Management; and DHRM Policy 6.05, Personnel Records Disclosure.
Wage personnel records must be retained by the University for five (5) years after separation or until closure of unresolved personnel issues. A Certificate of Records Disposal Form must be obtained from Records Management Services before final destruction by shredding.
The Personnel Services Department does not establish individual personnel files for wage employees. The hiring department has primary responsibility for the establishment and maintenance of the following:
Wage employee personnel records should include only employment-related documents such as employee history including hiring, promotion, evaluation, and disciplinary issues. Employees should be given copies of the information at the time it is placed in the file. Information maintained should include the following:
Wage Employee Time Records must be updated by the employing department on a daily basis and must include all hours worked. Time worked records are accounting documents and must be retained by the University for five (5) years; they should be kept separate from the employment related records because the records retention requirements differ. Wage Employee Time Records are accounting records; therefore, they must be retained by the University for five (5) years. See Policy 4320, Guidelines for Fair Labor Standards Act and Policy 4032, Recruitment Guidelines for On- and Off-Campus Wage And Salaried Classified Positions for additional information.
The following personnel records must be retained by the University for five (5) years. A Certificate of Records Disposal Form must be obtained from Records Management Services before final destruction by shredding.
Wage applications, recruitment and selection records including records of those not selected from the date the position is filled or action completed.
Original Position and Performance Activity Form P112 authorizing recruitment of regular wage positions and detailing position responsibilities (primary record), screening reports, original applications, referral sheets, copies of offer letters to selected candidates, and copies of non-selection letters to interviewed applicants are maintained in Personnel Services.
Testing records used for employee selection.
Personnel Services maintains a record of required and completed driver's record and criminal conviction check. Environmental Health and Safety Services maintains records of drug and alcohol testing conducted for compliance with the Commercial Driver's License testing program.
Any record involved with tracking workers compensation taxes, policies, payments or claims. Personnel Services maintains wage employee records on minor and major claims. The accounting records that are comprised of loss-time reports are maintained separately from the medical records for both types of claims.
· Loss-time payments may be made on major claims for a maximum of 500 weeks.
Personnel Services maintains a database including the following information: claimant's name, social security number, date of injury, hiring department, original injury, date claim sent to carrier, days lost, and Workers Compensation payments issued. Hard copy documentation is prepared quarterly as a backup to the system entries and is kept as long as it is administratively useful. From this data a quarterly reconciliation report is prepared and submitted to the Payroll Department for W-2 adjustments.
Personnel Services monitors departmental compliance with the 1500-hour wage employment limitation by reviewing reports produced from the wage payroll system showing accumulated hours worked by employees. Once an employee accumulates 1200 hours, a letter and copy of the report is sent to the hiring department warning them that the employee will soon reach the 1500-hour limit.
State and federal withholding forms must be retained by the University for four (4) years. All active state and federal withholding forms (employer copy) are centrally kept by the Payroll Office (in alpha order) for one year from the date last worked. Purged forms are submitted to Records Management Services on a fiscal-year basis to be maintained for additional time required, then properly destroyed.
I-9 records are maintained by the Payroll Office for a minimum of three (3) years or one (1) year after separation, whichever is longer.
Pursuant to Section 2.1-342 (b) (3&6) of the Freedom Of Information Act, state employees may not be denied access to the contents of their own personnel files except in the case of letters of recommendation, as well as certain medical and mental records that the employee's physician has requested remain confidential.
The disclosure of all wage employee personnel information must follow the provisions for the release of official personnel information described in the Policy 4080, Guidelines for the Release of Personnel Services Department Records. A record of response for information given to third party sources covered under the Freedom Of Information Act and the Virginia Privacy Act Of 1976 must be maintained. Request and response records are required to be maintained by the University five (5) years after final action, then destroyed by shredding. A Certificate of Records Disposal Form must be obtained from Records Management Services before final destruction.
The following guidelines should be followed:
· Interpretation of the official records or additional information that is not part of the records should not be provided.
· Responses to court orders are to be completed by dates stated in the order.
· Any file subject to litigation or audit must be retained until all issues are resolved or until a date stated by federal mandate.
All records are to be maintained in accordance with departmental guidelines detailed within this document.
· Employee Personnel Records: Documentation of employee history including hiring, promotion, evaluation, and disciplinary actions.
· Wage Employee Time Record: Daily documentation of all hours worked.
· Department of Human Resources Management, Policy 6.10, Personnel Records Management
· Department of Human Resources Management, Policy 6.05, Personnel Records Disclosure
· Department of Human Resources Management, Policy 2.20, Types Of Employment
· Records Retention and Disposition Schedule, General Schedule No. 103, Personnel Records
· Policy 4320, Guidelines for Fair Labor Standards Act
· Policy 4032, Recruitment Guidelines for On- and Off-Campus Wage And Salaried Classified Positions
· Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9)
· Virginia Freedom Of Information Act
· Privacy Protection Act Of 1976
· Policy 4080, Guidelines for the Release of Personnel Services Department Records
Approved July 13, 1995, by Associate Vice President for Personnel and Administrative Services, Ann Spencer.
Throughout the policy the retention scheduled was changed to reflect the current policy as administered by the Records Management Services.
The phrase destroyed by shredding has been added as the method of destroying records meeting retention schedules. Also added is the statement: A Certificate of Records Disposal must be obtained from Records Management Services before final destruction.
The official workweek has been changed from Friday noon to Friday noon to Friday midnight to the following Friday at midnight.
Revised record retention schedules have been included.
Approved September 8, 2000, by Assistant Vice President for Personnel Services, Linda S. Woodard.
October 10, 2001: Technical corrections to update policy links and name change for the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Human Resource Management (formerly Department of Personnel and Training).