How long to keep HR records: the federal retention minimums

Keep it for the longest clock that touches it

The mistake that costs employers is treating retention as one number. It is not. A single employee folder can hold four records on four different clocks. A job application is governed by a one-year rule and a payroll record by a three-year rule. A W-4 is governed by a four-year rule and a 401(k) record by a six-year rule. Purge the folder on the shortest clock and you have thrown out records you were still required to keep.

So the working rule is to find every law that touches a record and keep the record for the longest of those periods. Four forces set that final number, and the federal statute is only the first.

1. The federal statutory minimum. The floor set by whichever federal law governs the document. That is the FLSA for payroll, the IRS for tax records, the EEOC rules for personnel files, and so on. This is the starting point, not the finish line.
2. Your state’s rule, which is often longer. States set their own retention periods, and many run past the federal minimum. Where a state requires more, the state number wins. Always check your own state before you set a schedule.
3. An open claim, charge, or audit. A lawsuit, an EEOC charge, or a DOL or IRS audit freezes the clock. Once you know a claim exists or is coming, you must preserve the relevant records until it is resolved, even past the normal period.
4. Practical business need. Some records earn their keep beyond any legal minimum. Those are signed agreements, benefit elections, and anything you might need to answer a former employee’s question years later. Longer is often the safer default.

Record by record, what the minimum is

Here are the core federal minimums for the records most employers handle. Each shows the period and the law behind it. Treat these as floors. Your state, your industry, or an open dispute can push any of them higher.

Form I-9 3 yr / 1 yr

Keep each I-9 the later of three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends. For anyone employed less than about two years, the three-years-after-hire date is the one that controls.

Payroll records 3 years

Names, addresses, pay rates, hours worked, wages paid, additions and deductions, plus collective bargaining agreements and certificates. The same three-year floor applies under the ADEA for the records it covers.

Wage-computation records 2 years

The working documents behind the pay numbers: time cards, work and time schedules, wage-rate tables, and records of additions to or deductions from wages. The clock runs from the last entry.

Employment-tax records 4 years

Form 941 or 944 returns, W-2 and W-4 copies, deposit confirmations, tip records, and the rest. Keep them at least four years after the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later. A late payment extends the clock.

Personnel and hiring records 1 year

Applications, resumes, interview notes, promotion and transfer records, and termination documents. Keep them one year from the date the record was made or the action was taken, or one year from termination, whichever is later. The same rule covers ADA, GINA, and pregnant-worker accommodation records.

FMLA leave records 3 years

Leave dates and hours, notices to and from employees, medical certifications kept confidentially, and any dispute over leave designation. No particular form is required, but the records must be kept three years.

OSHA injury logs 5 years

The OSHA 300 Log, the 300A annual summary, any privacy case list, and the 301 incident reports. Keep them five years after the calendar year they cover, and update the logs if a case changes. Many low-hazard small employers are exempt from logging at all.

Benefit-plan records 6 years

Everything that supports a plan filing such as the Form 5500: plan documents, financial reports, nondiscrimination testing, and required participant notices. Keep them at least six years from the filing date.

Two records sit far outside that one-to-six-year band. Both come from rules that protect long-tail risks, and both can require keeping documents for the length of a career or longer.

OSHA exposure and medical records 30 years

If you create employee exposure records for hazardous substances, keep them thirty years. Employee medical records run the duration of employment plus thirty years. This applies to employers whose work involves regulated exposures, not every business.

Benefit-determination records As long as relevant

Beyond the six-year filing rule, ERISA requires records sufficient to determine the benefits due to each employee. That duty runs for as long as those records could matter to a benefit claim. In practice that can mean decades, because the clock on a benefit claim may not start until a claim is denied.

Run the I-9 clock for two employees

The I-9 is the rule people get wrong most often, because it is the only one with a formula instead of a flat number. You compare two dates and keep the form until the later one. Here it is for a long-tenure employee and a short-tenure employee, side by side.

Employee A, hired 1 March 2019, left 30 June 2025 (about six years of service) Three years after the hire date1 March 2022 One year after employment ends30 June 2026 Keep the I-9 until the later date30 June 2026 For a long-tenure employee, the one-year-after-departure clock is later, so it controls. Employee B, hired 1 February 2024, left 1 April 2024 (about two months of service) Three years after the hire date1 February 2027 One year after employment ends1 April 2025 Keep the I-9 until the later date1 February 2027 Employee B worked two months, yet you keep this I-9 until February 2027, nearly three years after the last day. Short tenures land on the hire-plus-three clock.

The crossover sits at two years of service. Employ someone for less than two years and the hire-plus-three date is always later, so you hold the I-9 well past their departure. Employ someone longer and the departure-plus-one date takes over. Either way you keep the I-9 for the whole time someone works for you, then run the comparison once they leave.

Four ways the retention clock gets missed

• Keeping only the federal minimum.The federal number is a floor, not a ceiling. Many states require records for longer, and where they do, the state period is the one you have to meet. A schedule built on federal minimums alone can still be short in your state.
• Purging an I-9 on the wrong clock.Tossing a short-tenure employee’s I-9 a year after they leave feels right and is wrong. The hire-plus-three clock usually runs later for anyone employed under two years, and destroying the form early is a substantive violation if an inspection follows.
• Destroying records while a matter is open.A normal retention period stops mattering the moment a claim, charge, or audit is live. Routine shredding that sweeps up relevant records during an open dispute can become a separate and far worse problem than the original claim.
• Applying one blanket period to everything.A flat "we keep everything a year" or "everything seven years" policy will be too short for some records and wasteful for others. Retention is record by record, and a real schedule names the period for each type.

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