©2024 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2024 Cal-Peculiarities | 343 11. Employer Retention of Records California employers must retain certain records that are not addressed by federal law and certain records must be retained for periods longer than federal law requires. Listed below are peculiar California legal requirements. Recommended retention periods may be even longer than the legal requirements below because of federal laws and longer statutes of limitation. California retention requirements include: wage statements (pay stubs) (three years),1 job applicant records (four years), those records to include “data regarding the race, sex, and national origin of each applicant and for the job for which he or she applied,”2 help wanted ads (two years)3 wage (payroll) records (three years)4 child labor certificates (three years)5 personnel records (four years),6 employee health records (for hospitals, three years after termination of employment; 30 years for toxic exposure related records),7 pension and welfare plan information (two years),8 employee contracts (four years for written contracts), business records regarding total annual sales volume and goods purchased (two years),9 job title and wage rate history,10 and records of workplace violence hazard identification, evaluation, and correction; violent incident logs; training records; and records of workplace violence incident investigations (five years).11 1 Lab. Code § 226(a). Although the legal requirement is three years, the California statute of limitations governing claims of unfair business practices (which can include unpaid wages) suggests a retention period of at least four years are prudent. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17208. 2 Gov’t Code § 12946(a) (California employers are required to maintain and preserve all applicant personnel records for a minimum of four years); 2 Cal. Code Regs. § 11013 (b), (c) (DFEH regulations on recordkeeping and applicant data). “For recordkeeping purposes only, ‘applicant’ means any individual who files a formal application or, where an employer or other covered entity does not provide application forms, any individual who otherwise indicates to the employer or other covered entity a specific desire to be considered for employment. An individual who simply appears to make an informal inquiry or who files an unsolicited resume upon which no employment action is taken is not an applicant.” 2 Cal. Code Regs. § 11013(b)(1). 3 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11013(c) (requiring employers to keep for two years “[a]ny personnel or other employment records made or kept by any employer or other covered entity dealing with any employment practice and affecting any employment benefit of any applicant or employee.”) 4 Lab. Code § 1174(d); Lab. Code § 1197.5 (e) (both three years). California unemployment insurance regulations require retention of wage records for four years after a wage payment on which UI contributions are due. 22 Cal. Code Regs. § 1085-2(c). 5 Lab. Code §§ 1174(d), 1299. 6 Gov’t Code § 12946(a) (California employers must maintain and preserve personnel records and files for a minimum period of four years after the records and files are initially created or received and, in the case of applicants or terminated employees, for a minimum period of
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