Several laws contain either explicit or implicit recordkeeping requirements. These laws include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) , Equal Pay Act , Executive Order 11246 , the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) , the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) , the Rehabilitation Act , Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) , Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) , the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) , and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. The list below includes various types of records, the length of time those records must be retained, and the law requiring the records retention. In many cases, several laws require that a particular record must be maintained. In those cases, the law with the longest recordkeeping requirement is listed.
Type of Record; Length of Time to Retain; Applicable Law
*If, while completing the Affirmative Action Plan, an "adverse impact" is discovered, then the records must be maintained until two years after the adverse impact is eliminated.
**Medical records related to a leave granted under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) must be maintained for three years.
Any records that are a part of a lawsuit must be retained at least until the lawsuit is resolved. Records of leave of absences granted under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) must be retained for three years.
See posting requirements in the Legal Issues section.
Personnel records can be maintained in one of the following basic systems:
Refer to the section above (Recordkeeping Requirements ) for information on what type of information should be maintained and for how long.
Manual personnel record systems exist in almost all companies, almost always in conjunction with some computer system. A few companies are moving in the "paperless" direction in which no paper copies of records are maintained. All records are stored electronically. However, for most companies, that practice is years away. Office supply stores can provide information on various manual recordkeeping and storage systems.
An integrated Payroll/Human Resources system has a big advantage in efficiency. Since Payroll and Human Resources need many of the same data elements, the common data need only be entered and maintained once and both functions can use it. Also, data reporting is easier. The disadvantage of integrated systems is that often neither the Payroll nor Human Resources functions are fully satisfied with the system because it doesn't include all the features they want.
Stand alone Human Resources Information systems are appealing to the Human Resources department, because they are designed to satisfy the Human Resources function specifically. The downside is the effort needed to manage the often cumbersome interface between the HRIS system and the Payroll system. Being without an interface is even worse, since the Human Resources and Payroll systems must then spend the organization's resources entering duplicate data onto the two systems. High end client/server systems overcome this problem by providing a smooth and seamless interface.
For very large organizations with a budget to match, a client/server based system is best. For smaller organizations, find an integrated Payroll/Human Resources system that adequately satisfies the need of both functions. Other issues to consider are:
The October 1995 issue of Human Resource Executive magazine and the November 1996 issue of Controller magazine (www.controllermag.com) provide a comparison of Human Resources Information Systems.
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