Employee Records That Should Always Be Securely Secured in Tampa 

Running a business in Tampa leaves you with a lot of paperwork for each employee. You might be asking yourself how long you have to keep documents that may seem unimportant, when can you know for certain that they’re no longer relevant to you and your business. 

If a document has personal information on it, you should definitely go above and beyond to get them properly disposed of through a secure shredding service.

However, it’s important to follow the legal standards in the state of Florida. So how can you know when it’s time to shred a document?

As a guide, here’s a basic timeline of what documents you should always securely shred and when. 

One Year

You start collecting information and paperwork for potential employees before they’re even hired. For the most part, you’ll want to keep things like their resume and notes from the interview for at least one year. You should also hold onto their tax withholdings, state and federal, and anything else you may need to reference later. 

And after an employee either leaves or is terminated, you should still keep their I-9 form for at least a year afterward before getting it shredded professionally.

Three Years

Wage records, time cards, and anything related to payroll should be kept for at least three years. Doing so will allow you to prove that your company has been in compliance with laws like the Equal Pay, Fair Labor, and Age Discrimination acts. You should also hold onto documents concerning extended leave of absences, whether they’re for medical or family reasons, in case you need the information they offer at a future point in time.

These documents have vital and personal information on them, which makes it all the more important to dispose of them properly.

Five Years or More

There are some documents that you’ll want to keep on hand for longer than you may expect. An employee’s benefit information, for example, should be kept for at least five years after a person no longer works for you.

The exception to this comes with any worker’s compensation paperwork you might file. Depending on the claim, you may have to hold onto those documents for up to 30 years. That’s not just courtesy; it’s a legal mandate. 

Your paperwork is filed away for a reason. You wouldn’t scatter your files on the sidewalk as soon as they no longer appear to be relevant, so don’t do the same by crumpling them up in the wastepaper basket. Make an appointment with a professional shredding company, so that you can be sure that your information ends up where it should be.