So, you’ve made the switch to all electronic employee records: How do you know what hiring e-records to keep? In a recent BLR webinar, attorney Allen Kato tackled this topic and gave us some advice.
Hiring E-Records to Keep
Here are the hiring e-records to keep:
- Job descriptions and job postings. These should identify the essential functions of a job and establish the minimum necessary qualifications of applicants. The job description should be dated and should note the version number. “Make sure that your job description is dated or somehow delineated so that it’s clear as to what period of time this particular job description covered.” Kato told us. “I also suggest having employees sign the job description, acknowledging that they’ve reviewed it and agree that this is, in fact, the description of the job that he or she is doing.”
- Job applications and interview notes. This includes all relevant information that was gathered as the basis for making the hiring decision. It also includes documenting the valid reasons for selecting/rejecting applicants.
- Offer letter. Employers should keep the original, signed hard copy or electronic signature. The document should establish the terms and conditions of employment. It should confirm the at-will status of employment and the limits on modification of that status. The offer letter should state that the offer terms are exclusive and supersede all prior representations and promises (including verbal, written or implied).
- Reference and background checks. This includes all information obtained while doing background checks. Be sure to avoid legal pitfalls—follow the federal FCRA notice and disclosure requirements, be careful about protecting privacy, do not discriminate on illegal factors, and be careful about using social media.
- I-9 verification of identity and authorization to work in U.S. These records need to be kept on file, but many employers opt to keep them separate from other personnel files in case of an inspection or audit.
- Drug and alcohol tests and physical examinations. Be sure to keep on file the signed consent for the test/exam as well as the results. Be sure to treat these records like any other medical records—keep them in a separate file away from the rest of the personnel file.
- Employee invention assignment and proprietary information agreement. Keep the original signed hardcopy or electronic signature. Be sure to obtain this agreement at the time of hire, stating the rights regarding employee inventions and confidentiality of proprietary information. As follow-up, be sure to also protect and document trade secrets and obtain assignment of inventions and other intellectual property created during employment.
- Employee handbook. Keep on file a signed acknowledgment of receipt upon hire and of later versions – keep either the hardcopy signature or the electronic signature. The handbook should reiterate the at-will employment status.
For more information on what hiring e-records to keep, order the webinar recording of “Electronic Recordkeeping: What to Save, What to Delete, and Everything In-Between.” To register for a future webinar, visit http://store.blr.com/events/webinars.
Allen Kato is an attorney in the Employment Practices Group of Fenwick & West LLP in San Francisco. His practice concentrates exclusively on representing management in equal employment opportunity, wage and hour, wrongful termination, privacy, unfair competition, and trade secret matters, and litigating individual and class action lawsuits before courts and agencies.