Employer Records
Employers must keep accurate records of the time worked by their non-exempt employees. Common ways of keeping time records include: writing out the time worked; punching a time clock or using a computer login program. No matter how they are created, time records must show: (1) when the employee begins and ends each work period; (2) the begin and end of meal periods and (3) the total daily hours worked. Meal periods during which an employee is forbidden from performing any work and all authorized rest periods need not be recorded. (Labor Code § 1174)
An employer must maintain employee records in English, in ink and properly dated. Employee records must include: (1) the employee’s wage statements; (2) name; (3) address, (4) social security numbers and (5) ages of all minors. For a period of three years, the employer also must keep payroll showing the hours worked each day by each employee and the wages paid to that employee. (Labor Code § 1114) Employers are required to permit an employee to inspect or copy records maintained which provide payroll information. (Labor Code § 226(a))
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) requires employers to maintain all applications, personnel or employment referral records for a period of at least two (2) years after the files are initially created or received. Employers must retain the personnel files of terminated employees for two (2) years after termination and the files of rejected applicants for two (2) years after the rejection.