Yesterday, we looked at some of the elements of a strong record retention policy. Today, a few more tips from attorney Ronald J. Cooke, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Nossaman LLP, as well as an introduction to a new resource that will streamline your state and federal recordkeeping burden.
Click here for Ronald’s tips from yesterday.
Other Procedures To Consider
- Processes for conversion of paper records into electronic records
- Choose a location for temporary storage
- Processes for maintaining the integrity of electronic records (e.g., “read only” so that they cannot be altered after storage)
- Protection of records through passwords or encryption
- Records subject to privacy
Document destruction is also an important aspect of your policy. Specify methods of destruction, such as shredding paper documents to ensure they are no longer readable. Be sure to define responsibility for methods of destruction of records such as CDs and tapes. Remember that with electronic records, deleting does not always delete permanently.
The Employment Notice Handbook, specifically for California employers, helps you keep track of posters, notices, and required records — order your copy today.
When litigation or a government investigation is threatened or reasonably anticipated, you will need to have a way to know where your records are preserved or retained. A litigation response plan should be part of the record retention plan, noting the types and locations of records (both electronic and hard copy), what is active, what is stored, what is archived, and the physical location of each.
Pending litigation or a pending government investigation will require preservation of relevant documents and date. Preservation often requires preservation in the native format. A litigation hold will also warrant a suspension of all or part of the company’s document destruction program. Though a suspension of all document destruction may be unwarranted, it is challenging to determine what documents are or could be relevant.
If you have a litigation hold, be as specific as possible in describing the records covered by the hold and the period of time, as you can be subject to significant sanctions for failure to comply. The notice should require preservation in format in which it was created and is maintained until and unless told otherwise. You should determine the audience to whom the notice of hold is to be distributed.
Fully updated links to 35 required state and federal posters — no more wasting time on convoluted web searches. Learn more here.
Get Your Recordkeeping in Order, Quickly and Easily
California and federal laws contain a bewildering assortment of technical requirements
covering information that must be posted in the workplace, notices that must be given
to employees, and records that must be kept on file.
These detailed regulations can easily become traps for the unwary. Failure to comply can result in expensive fines, loss of government contracts and, in some cases, even jail time.
But our Employment Notice Handbook— fully updated for 2011 — contains everything you need to know. It’s an essential quick-reference guide to:
- Required workplace posters, sorted by employer size and type of employer
- Special Cal/OSHA notices
- The notices you must provide to applicants, new employees, current employees, and terminating employees
- HR recordkeeping: What to keep, and for how long (includes an easy-read chart that makes it simple to tell at a glance what’s required of you for each category of records)
- How to maintain records privacy
- Paperless records storage
- The records you should keep separate from everything else
- Employees’ rights to inspect their personnel files
Best of all, the handbook contains links to the most updated versions of 35 required state and federal posters — there’s no need to waste a bunch of time clicking around endless government websites because we’ve done all the legwork for you!
And, for posters that are not provided by the government, we explain where you can obtain them. It’s one-stop shopping at its best.
Order today, and get all of your recordkeeping in order for the year to come.
If you don’t agree that the Employment Notice Handbook saves you time, clarifies your recordkeeping responsibilities, and streamlines your compliance duties, we’ll cheerfully refund every penny you paid for it, no questions asked.
Don’t delay — order today.