Temporary Employee Files
smt59
2 Posts
Does anyone know how long I need to keep personnel files for outside temps that we have used. It's stuff such as warning notices, training records, absence notes etc.?
smt59
Comments
The answer is going to depend on what your relationship is with them. Did you hire them through an agency? What does the contract with the agency state regarding whose the employer of record and whose responsibility it is? Are you co-employers? Does the agency have copies of your information? Is it accessible to you should you need it (without a subpeona). Were they paid via the agency?
That said, if there were pay decisions, disciplinary actions, background checks and I-9s done by your company, I would save them as long as regular employee files. We keep ours 7 years after termination date.
If it is medical records related to WC documents then you should be keeping these for 30 years.
I think it would be helpful to clarify some language here.
If I understand correctly, you hired a temp agency to supply you with a person to do stuff for you. Perhaps you played a role in deciding which person the temp agency sent. You then paid an hourly fee to the temp agency and the temp agency paid this person who did stuff for you. If that is correct, then you did not hire that person who did stuff for you. You hired the temp agency to provide someone to do work for your company. If that is the case, you have co-employment responsibilities for that person who did stuff for you that the temp agency sent. The more you did (e.g., handling the co-employed individual's schedule change requests for religious reasons), the more potential for employment liability you accepted compared to the temp agency in the co-employment relationship.
Co-employment responsibility can vary from circuit to circuit as far as federal laws go and I would guess there is high variation in state rules.
I would treat the file like an employee file unless or until I heard otherwise from counsel. I didn't find anything in a quick check with DOL. You might call them, or your state's employment regulatory agencies, or counsel.