Past Employee File Purge?  Not so fast!

For Immediate Release   -   November 30, 2009

(New Bern, NC) An employee is no longer with the company so their work space is cleaned out, files are thrown away and their computer hard drive is wiped clean.  Sound familiar?  Makes sense to you, right?  Well, you might want to give it a little thought.  At many businesses, there have been quite a few personnel changes this past year, so purging files is just part of the standard business practice.  But Gail Bisbee, President and CEO of Confidential Records Management, Inc. (CRMI), says developing a policy specifically addressing the retention of past personnel files is something you need to do to protect your business as well as the former employee.

“Even if an employee is no longer with your company, retaining their files are key because you never know if they will be needed during an audit or even in the event of a court case,” said Bisbee.  “Unfortunately, managing employee records can be troublesome, especially when dealing with different file types and state and federal regulations.  With this in mind, retention periods can range from one to three years depending on the document type.” 

According to Bisbee retention policies don’t end there.  “Before doing a file purge companies must keep in mind the file type and regulations regarding the safe disposal of employee documents to protect data from identity theft.  Developing a strong records retention and disposal policy can help companies stay out of legal trouble.    Federal regulations state that you must “reasonably” destroy paper and electronic records containing personal data.”

There are many considerations that companies will want to asses prior to doing a mass file purge, including the following:  

• Emails – Legal regulations have been enacted that treat an email message just like any other record, so retaining certain emails is important.  The emails you keep from the past employee will really depend on your industry, but consider keeping emails that reflect the position of your business, complete a transaction, are part of an official record or agenda and minutes from meetings.
  

Past Employee File Purge? Not so Fast!

• Hard drives and shared drives – Be sure to go through hard drives before wiping the computer clean.  Also, check any shared drives as well, as there may be different files on the shared drive that were on the employees’ hard drive.


• Content and document management systems – If your company has a system that manages and retains records through a secure Web site, don’t forget to look at the files stored here.  You’ll especially want to do this if a new employee will have access to this information.


• Hard copy files – In addition to retaining certain files, be sure to go through other hard copy records that the employee may have had including blue prints, maps, magnetic media and even mail.


• Back-ups – Chances are there will be back-ups of all these listed things so be sure whatever you decide to keep or toss or delete, the same is done for the back-up.


• Document destruction – After you determine which records are safe to toss, shred all of them in a safe and secure manner; don’t just toss in the garbage.

To be reassured the right files are kept and to know how long to keep them, consult your legal, accounting and document storage professional.  According to Bisbee, keeping everything forever, just to be safe, isn’t a good idea as federal law states that during an audit, all records on hand can be looked through, and that’s regardless of whether or not it’s a current or former employee.

“Developing a policy and following through with it when an employee does leave your business will take some time up-front, but you’ll sleep a lot better knowing that you’re not only protecting your company, you’re also protecting your past employees’ information from getting into the wrong hands,” said Bisbee.