The University of Adelaide retains Personnel files 75 years after date of
birth of the employee (or in the instance of lecturers who work beyond 75, 20
years after separation). Some are retained permanently - usually for
historical or research purposes rather than legal ones. I would be interested
to know more of the history behind the practice of keeping them 75 years after
separation in the US.
I definately agree that 6 years after date of separation is far too short.
Which disposal authority has permitted this, out of interest?
Brigid Venables
University of Adelaide
Australia
Quoting Larry Medina <[log in to unmask]>:
> > The general practice for employees records is termination of
> > employment plus
> > 6 years unless you are expecting possible litigation from an employee
> > then I
> > would suggest termination plus 12. The only reason for keeping them
> > any
> > longer would be in compliance with health and safety legislation such
> > as
> > asbestos, noise and radiation exposure.
> >
> I'm hoping that a "general practice" is based on something a bit more
> concrete than this... the concept of " unless you are expecting
> possible litigation from an employee " resulting in a retention period
> of 12 versus 6 years beyond termination would seem a bit difficult to
> justify. Essentially ANY employee COULD fit into this category, even a
> deceased employee's family has the right to file a suit.
>
> In the US, Federal employees records must be retained for 75 years
> after separation form employment. My understanding is that the
> reasoning is based on that is as long as the family members of the
> employee are expected to be around to potentially file a suit, if it's
> thought at some point the employee might have been subjected to some
> harmful substance while employed, etc. This same policy extends to the
> Contractors and their subcontractors in some instances of Federal work,
> depending on the Agency you're working with and the nature of the work
> you're performing.
>
> Larry Medina
>
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