Employers must keep records.

Byline: ON THE JOB by Bureau of Labor and Industries For The Register-Guard

Question: I run a business with limited storage space. What employee records am I required to keep? How long must I keep them? Why do I keep them?

Answer: Let's look at the different types of employee records and identify the length of time you are required to keep each of them, and why.

Personnel records: Personnel records are defined as "those personnel records of the employee which are used or have been used to determine the employee's qualification for employment, promotion, additional compensation or employment termination or other disciplinary action." ORS 652.750.

Oregon law requires that at the request of a current employee, the employer shall provide reasonable opportunity for the employee to inspect his or her personnel records, at the place of employment or place of work assignment.

In addition, the law requires that upon termination of employment, the employee's personnel records must be kept for not less than 60 days after the termination. An employee can request these personnel records during the 60-day window or at any time thereafter if the records have been retained.

Keep in mind, however, that some federal laws require a longer record retention period; up to three years in some cases. In addition, there are some employment claims and wage claims that can be filed up to six years from the time of an alleged illegal act. For these reasons, you may want to keep all employment records (including payroll records) for seven years.

See egov.oregon.gov/BOLI/TA/T_FAQ_Tafaq.shtml for more information.

Wage and hour recordkeeping requirements: Employers are required by law to keep the following records for a period of two years (three years under federal law).

Employee's name in full as used for Social Security recordkeeping purposes, and on the same record, the employee's identifying symbol or number if such is used in place of name on any time, work, or payroll records.

Employee's home address, including ZIP code.

Date of birth, if under 19 years of age.

Sex and occupation in which employed.

Time of day and day of week on which employee's workweek begins.

Regular hourly rate of pay for any workweek in which overtime compensation is due, and an explanation of the basis of pay by indicating the monetary amount paid on a per hour, per day, per week, per piece, commission on sales, or other basis.

Hours worked each work ay (24 hours) and total hours worked each workweek (seven consecutive calendar days).

Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings or wages due for hours worked during the workday or workweek, exclusive of premium overtime compensation.

Total premium pay for overtime hours, excluding the straight-time earnings.

Total additions to or deductions from wages paid each pay period including employee purchase orders or wage assignments. Also, in individual employee records, the dates, amounts, and nature of the items which make up the total additions and deductions.

Total wages paid each pay period.

Date of payment and pay period covered by payment.

If an employee is on a fixed worked schedule, (i.e., one in which the daily work time and total weekly hours the employee works seldom varies from week to week) the law does not require you to maintain daily or weekly hours worked for those weeks in which the employee actually works the fixed schedule. You must, however, maintain daily and weekly records of hours worked for each time the employee on a fixed schedule does not adhere to the exact work time for each day and week as set forth in the fixed schedule.

To avoid possible wage disputes and to avoid liability for potential recordkeeping violations, it is a wise business practice simply to go ahead and maintain daily and weekly records of hours worked for all employees, whether or not a particular employee is on a fixed work schedule.

An employer does not have to keep records of all hours worked for certain "exempt" employees who work in a bona fide executive, professional or administrative capacity.

However, the employer is still required to keep employee records of sufficient detail to permit calculation for each pay period of the exempt employee's total remuneration for employment, including fringe benefits.

Remember, in addition to these recordkeeping requirements, every employer is required to supply each employee with an itemized statement of amounts and purposes of deductions from wages with each paycheck.

If you pay an employee in cash, be certain to have them sign a receipt showing their name, the date paid, their acknowledgement that they received the specific amount paid and their signature.

If you do not keep such acknowledgements of receipts in cash, you will have no written documentation that your employee actually received the cash payments in the event of a dispute.

While keeping accurate records is time-consuming and takes up storage space, it really is a wise business practice. It also can save you enormous frustration, anxiety and liability.

On The Job is written by the staff of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Contact BOLI at [phone], or BOLI, 800 N.E. Oregon St. No. 32, Portland, OR 97232.