How Long to Keep Employee Files: Federal Retention Minimums

Under federal law, how long you keep employee files depends entirely on the document. Basic personnel records have a one-year minimum, payroll runs three years, employment tax records four, OSHA injury logs five, ERISA benefit records six, I-9 forms three years from hire or one year after termination (whichever is later), and employee medical records must be kept for the duration of employment plus 30 years. There is no single retention schedule, and using the shortest period across the board is how employers end up unable to defend an audit or a lawsuit.

Quick Reference: Federal Retention Minimums

Hiring, promotion, discipline, and termination records — 1 year
Payroll records — 3 years (supplementary time cards and schedules, 2 years)
FMLA leave records — 3 years
Form I-9 — 3 years from hire or 1 year after termination, whichever is later
Employment tax records — 4 years
OSHA injury and illness logs — 5 years
ERISA benefit plan records — 6 years after the Form 5500 filing
Employee medical records — duration of employment plus 30 years
Employee exposure records — 30 years

State law often requires longer, and when it does, the longer period wins.

Hiring, Personnel, and Termination Files (1 Year)

The EEOC requires private employers to keep most personnel and employment records for at least one year from the date the record was created or the personnel action occurred, whichever is later.¹ When an employee is involuntarily terminated, the one-year clock resets to the termination date.²

This one-year bucket covers job applications, resumes, interview notes, promotion and demotion records, disciplinary actions, performance reviews, termination paperwork, job advertisements, employer-administered test papers, and records related to training selection.³

There is one large exception. If an employee or applicant files a discrimination charge with the EEOC, every record related to the charge must be preserved until the matter is fully resolved, including any resulting lawsuit.¹ Employers who purge files on a strict annual schedule get burned here. A charge filed eleven months after a termination freezes every related document in place indefinitely.

Payroll and Wage Records (3 Years)

Two separate statutes independently require three-year payroll retention. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets a three-year minimum for basic payroll records,⁴ and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act imposes the same three-year rule with the added requirement that the record include the employee’s date of birth.³

The FLSA payroll record covers the employee’s name, Social Security number, address, occupation, rate of pay, basis on which wages are paid, hours worked each day and week, straight-time and overtime earnings, deductions, total pay per period, and the pay period dates.⁴

Supplementary records used to compute pay — time cards, time sheets, piece-rate tickets, wage rate tables, and work schedules — have a shorter two-year minimum.⁵ Many employers just keep them for three years with the payroll records, since separating the two piles creates more work than it saves.

Employment Tax Records (4 Years)

Employers who withhold income tax, Social Security, and Medicare must keep all related employment tax records for at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later.⁶ The same four-year period applies to Federal Unemployment Tax Act records.

This is where employers relying on the FLSA’s three-year timeline leave a gap. W-4 forms, quarterly 941 filings, annual W-2 copies, and documents supporting FUTA calculations need to survive a full year longer than the payroll records they relate to. Treat the IRS timeline as the controlling one for anything tax-related.

Form I-9 (3 Years From Hire or 1 Year After Termination)

Every employer must verify each new hire’s identity and work authorization on Form I-9 and keep the completed form for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.⁷ The “whichever is later” language matters. For an employee who works ten years, you keep the I-9 for one year after they leave. For someone who quits after two months, you still need the form until three years after their hire date.

Federal immigration officers must give at least three business days’ notice before inspecting I-9s.⁸ Technical errors can be corrected within a 10-business-day window once inspectors identify them, but substantive violations and missing forms cannot be fixed after the fact.

FMLA Leave Records (3 Years)

Employers covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act must keep FMLA-related records for at least three years and produce them for Department of Labor inspection on request.⁹ No specific format is required, but the file must include:

Dates FMLA leave was taken, plus hours if taken in increments shorter than a day
Copies of written leave requests from the employee and written notices from the employer
Records describing the employer’s paid and unpaid leave policies
Documentation of employee benefit premium payments during leave
Records of any disagreement over whether leave qualified as FMLA leave, with written statements from both sides

Leave must be specifically designated as FMLA leave in the records. Tracking absences generically without flagging which ones were FMLA-protected is technically out of compliance even if the leave was actually granted.⁹

OSHA Injury and Illness Logs (5 Years)

OSHA requires most employers with more than 10 employees to maintain injury and illness records on Forms 300, 300A, and 301.¹⁰ These logs must be kept for five years after the end of the calendar year they cover.¹¹ A log from calendar year 2025 must be retained through the end of 2030.

The logs are not static. If new information surfaces about a previously recorded injury during the five-year window, the entry must be updated. Employees and their representatives can also review the logs on request. Archiving and forgetting is a common mistake that surfaces during inspections when an old entry should have been amended as the employee’s condition worsened.

ERISA Benefit Plan Records (6 Years)

Records supporting employee benefit plans governed by ERISA must be kept for at least six years after the filing date of the relevant Form 5500 annual report.¹² This includes the 5500 filing itself, supporting financial documentation, nondiscrimination test results, required employee communications, and evidence of the plan’s fidelity bond.¹³

Foundational plan documents go much further. The original plan document, all amendments, and records proving benefit distributions to participants should be treated as permanent, because the employer bears the burden of proving benefits were paid correctly. Keep them until every participant has received all benefits owed and every audit window has closed.

Medical Records (Employment + 30 Years) and Exposure Records (30 Years)

The longest federal retention rules apply to employee medical files and records of exposure to toxic substances or harmful physical agents. The two categories have different clocks under OSHA’s access-to-records standard, and mixing them up is a common error.

Employee medical records — medical evaluations, biological monitoring results, and health questionnaires related to workplace hazards — must be kept for the duration of employment plus 30 years.¹⁴ Employee exposure records, such as workplace air monitoring results and sampling data, must be kept for at least 30 years without the added employment-duration piece.¹⁵

Two narrow exceptions shorten the medical timeline. First-aid records for minor on-site injuries treated by a non-physician do not need to be kept for the full period if they are stored separately from the employer’s medical program files. Medical records for employees who worked less than one year can be given to the employee at termination instead of retained for 30-plus years.¹⁴

Medical Files Must Be Stored Separately

The Americans with Disabilities Act adds a structural rule on top of retention: all employee medical information must be collected and maintained on separate forms and in separate files from the general personnel file.¹⁶ Access is restricted. Supervisors may only be told about necessary work restrictions and accommodations. First-aid and safety personnel may be informed if the employee’s condition could require emergency treatment. Government officials investigating ADA compliance may request relevant records.

The separate-file rule applies regardless of source. Whether the information came from a post-offer physical, a reasonable accommodation request, or a voluntary wellness program, it goes in the medical file. Storing medical information alongside performance reviews or disciplinary records violates the ADA even if it is never disclosed.

State Law, Electronic Storage, and Secure Destruction

Federal retention periods are the floor. State and local laws frequently require longer, and when they conflict with the federal minimum, the longer requirement controls. Check your state’s rules before setting a schedule, especially for payroll and personnel records where state timelines can exceed federal ones by several years.

Electronic storage is acceptable for all federally required records, including I-9 forms, as long as documents remain accurate, accessible, and convertible to a readable format for the full retention period. FMLA regulations explicitly permit microfilm, automated data processing systems, or any other format that allows inspection and transcription on request.⁹

Once a retention period expires, destroy the records securely. Cross-shred physical documents containing personal information and use deletion methods that prevent recovery for electronic files. A written retention policy that maps every document type to its minimum period and its scheduled destruction date is the simplest way to avoid both premature disposal and unnecessary hoarding of sensitive data.

1
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602
2
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
3
eCFR. 29 CFR 1627.3 – Records To Be Kept by Employers
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 – Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
5
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 516 – Records To Be Kept by Employers
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 305, Recordkeeping
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1324a – Unlawful Employment of Aliens
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 10.3 Inspection
9
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.500 – Recordkeeping Requirements
10
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Recordkeeping Requirements
11
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1904.33 – Retention and Updating
12
Department of Labor. ERISA Advisory Council – Retention of Plan Records
13
Department of Labor. ERISA Advisory Council – Recordkeeping in the Electronic Age
14
eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.1020 – Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records
15
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Employer’s Obligation To Maintain and Transfer Medical Records After the Retainment Period Has Passed
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 12112 – Discrimination