Federal law sets the floor for how long employers keep employee records after termination at one year for basic personnel files, but most other records must be held much longer: three years for payroll and FMLA paperwork, four years for employment tax records, five years for OSHA injury logs, six years for benefit plan filings, and up to 30 years after separation for records of toxic-substance exposure. The retention clock is tied to the type of record, not to the employee, and state laws frequently push these minimums out further.
Retention Periods by Record Type
There is no single answer to how long your file sticks around, because “your file” is actually several different files governed by different statutes. Here is what each one has to survive.
Personnel Files: One Year After Termination
The EEOC requires private employers to keep personnel and employment records for one year after the record is made or the personnel action occurs, whichever is later. For an involuntary termination, the clock resets and runs one year from the termination date.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements That covers applications, hiring records, promotions, demotions, and termination paperwork.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602
State and local government employers and educational institutions face a two-year retention requirement for the same records.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602 If you worked for a school district or a city agency, your personnel file has a longer guaranteed shelf life than at a private company.
One critical exception: if a discrimination charge is filed, every record related to the charge must be preserved until the case reaches final resolution, no matter what other retention deadline would otherwise apply.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
Payroll Records: Three Years
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records for at least three years. A separate two-year rule covers the supporting documents used to calculate pay, such as time cards, work schedules, and wage rate tables.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 – Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act The Age Discrimination in Employment Act independently requires three years of payroll retention. Records explaining the basis for paying different wages to employees of opposite sexes must be kept for at least two years under the Equal Pay Act.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
Employment Tax Records: Four Years
The IRS requires employers to keep all employment tax records for at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later.4Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Recordkeeping This covers federal income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare, and Federal Unemployment Tax records. Because four years exceeds the FLSA’s three-year payroll floor, tax-related payroll data effectively needs a four-year hold.
FMLA Records: Three Years
Records related to FMLA leave, including leave requests, medical certifications, employer notices, and any dispute over eligibility, must be kept for at least three years.5eCFR. 29 CFR 825.500 – Recordkeeping Requirements Medical information collected in connection with FMLA or ADA accommodations must also be stored separately from the main personnel folder.6U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Advisor – Recordkeeping Requirements
Form I-9: Three Years From Hire or One Year After Termination
The I-9 retention rule uses a two-part calculation. Employers must keep the form for three years after the hire date or one year after the termination date, whichever is later.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 10.0 Retaining Form I-9 For anyone who worked less than two years, the three-year-from-hire deadline controls. For anyone who worked longer, the one-year-after-termination deadline takes over.
OSHA Injury and Illness Logs: Five Years
Employers must keep OSHA 300 Logs, annual summaries, and incident report forms for five years following the end of the calendar year they cover. Within that window, employers must update the logs if the classification or outcome of a recorded injury changes.8Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1904.33 – Retention and Updating
Toxic Exposure and Medical Records: Employment Plus 30 Years
This is the retention period most former employees don’t know about. When an employee has been exposed to toxic substances or hazardous materials on the job, OSHA requires the employer to keep related medical records for the duration of employment plus 30 years after the employee leaves.9Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1910.1020 – Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records Occupational diseases can take decades to appear, and the retention rule reflects that. If you worked with chemicals, asbestos, or other hazardous materials, records of your exposure should still exist well past the point when every other file has been shredded.
Two narrow exceptions apply. First aid records for minor incidents treated on-site by a non-physician are not covered. And if an employee worked for less than one year, the employer can hand the records over at termination rather than retain them.9Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1910.1020 – Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records
Benefit Plan Records: Six Years
Two laws govern benefit plan records, and the longer one controls. Under the ADEA, benefit plans, seniority systems, and merit systems must be kept for the full period they are in effect plus one year after they end.10eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1627 – Records to Be Made or Kept Relating to Age ERISA sets a six-year floor for records supporting benefit plan filings, running from the filing date of the documents they support.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 1027 – Retention of Records If you have questions about a former employer’s retirement or pension plan, the records almost certainly still exist.
State Laws Often Extend These Timelines
Federal retention periods are minimums. When a state sets a longer requirement, the employer must follow it. Payroll and personnel files are where states most often add time. Several states require wage and hour records to be kept four to six years, well past the FLSA’s three-year floor. Some also extend personnel file retention to several years after termination. The specifics vary enough that the reliable source is your state’s Department of Labor website, which will list the actual retention periods for employers operating there.
Getting Your Records Before They’re Destroyed
No blanket federal law gives private-sector employees the right to see their own personnel file. That right, where it exists, comes from state law, and roughly half the states have enacted some version of it.
Where these laws exist, the process usually starts with a written request. Response deadlines run anywhere from about seven business days to 45 days depending on the state. Some states require the employer to make the file available for in-person inspection at the worksite during business hours; others allow the employer to mail copies. Employers can typically charge a reasonable copying fee.
Access isn’t unlimited. State laws commonly let employers withhold letters of recommendation, documents tied to active investigations, and records that reference other employees.
What to Do If You Might Have a Claim
Retention deadlines matter most when they intersect with the statute of limitations on a potential claim. A discrimination charge with the EEOC typically must be filed within 180 or 300 days of the adverse action, comfortably inside the one-year personnel file retention window. A wage claim under state law can carry a two- or three-year statute of limitations, but the supporting time cards have only a two-year federal retention floor. The earlier you act, the more evidence still exists.
A few practical steps protect you:
- If your state grants access rights, request your personnel file in writing as close to your departure date as possible. Waiting until a dispute develops can put you past the shortest retention periods.
- Keep your own parallel file while employed: pay stubs, performance reviews, offer letters, benefit enrollment confirmations, and any written communications about your terms of employment. Your employer’s duty to retain records does not guarantee you easy access to them later.
- Check your state Department of Labor site for the retention periods and access rights that apply where you worked.
If an employer destroys records it was legally required to keep, courts and administrative agencies can draw an “adverse inference” — treating the missing records as if they would have supported the employee’s claims. In discrimination and wrongful termination cases, where documentary evidence about hiring decisions, pay disparities, and termination rationale is central, that inference can be decisive. An employer that shreds a file too early may hand the former employee a stronger position than the records themselves would have provided.
The periods described here are legal minimums. Many employers hold records longer, either by policy or because their document systems default to longer retention. But counting on an employer to go beyond the legal floor is not a strategy, especially after the employment relationship has ended.