In yesterday’s Advisor, we presented attorney Marc Jacuzzi’s checklist for personnel records. Today, his tips on HR recordkeeping plus an introduction to a special tool for the small or even one-person HR department.
Jacuzzi, a shareholder in the South San Francisco law firm Simpson, Garrity, Innes & Jacuzzi, P.C., offers the following tips for better, safer recordkeeping:
Don’t Be Mindless
You need to be thoughtful, not mindless, about shredding documents, Jacuzzi says. Remember, some records you’ll want to keep beyond 3 or 4 years. For example, you will want to show that people signed at-will and confidentiality agreements, were aware of rules in your handbook, and so on.
Time Worked
One of the biggest failures in recordkeeping is being casual about recording time worked, Jacuzzi says. Time records should include:
- Time in at the beginning of the shift
- Time out for the meal break
- Time in at the end of the meal break
- Time out at the end of the shift
Policies should indicate that failure to comply will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. Time cards should include a disclaimer to the effect that the employee agrees that the card accurately represents all time worked.
Text Messages
In employment, where text messages are used, there is a problem with retention. If there’s a hiring decision, promotion decision, or other record that needs to be kept, and if you don’t have a way of retaining text messages, your managers need to be trained to save these records.
No Autodating of Documents
Some HR departments set up systems to autodate documents, but that’s a mistake, Jacuzzi says. Invariably, you’ll pull up a document and it will get redated. Then someone asks, Why is this document dated 3 months after the fact?
Coordinated Retention Policy
HR generally knows the rules and follows them, but you need to make sure that everybody is onboard and is doing it, says Jacuzzi.
For example, you think you are managing all the résumés of applicants for a particular job, but the hiring manager has called some friends and is saving the résumés of the people the friends recommended separately. “Oh yeah, I’ve got more résumés. They’re all good applicants. I just kept them just in case.”
Or, IT says those documents are destroyed, you report that the documents have been destroyed, and then someone says, “Oh, I personally archive everything.”
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You’re on Notice
When does your duty to preserve documents kick in? “When a party reasonably anticipates litigation,” says Jacuzzi. If there’s a major accident, if someone plans to bring a lawsuit, if you receive a letter, you’re on notice. Start to build a defense. If, in the termination meeting, the employee looks over and says, “You haven’t heard the last of me. I’m going to see my lawyer,” you are arguably on notice, says Jacuzzi.
Once you’re on notice, you have to stop routine destruction. In considering what to preserve, look at the following, Jacuzzi says:
- Personal computers
- Servers
- Handheld devices
- Cell phones
- Internet service provider records
- Instant messaging services
- Internet search and data providers
- Data recorders
- Security systems
- External hard drives
- Laptop computers
- Thumb drives
- Fax machines
- Scanners
- Digital copies
- Voice mail
- GPS systems
- Automotive computers
- Paging devices
- Backup discs and tapes
- Legacy systems
- Archives
Records retention and lawyers to question how you do it—just one more HR headache. We’re talking about intermittent leave headaches; accommodation headaches; investigation headaches; training, interviewing, and attendance headaches; to name just a few. In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. And in a small department, it’s just that much tougher.
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