Time Limit on Keeping Applications/Resumes

debs6882

Does anyone know if there are any kinds of laws mandating how long you should keep applications and/or resumes? Or is it just dependent on your company policy? We wouldn't want an applicant who didn't get the job to come back later and file a discrimination claim, etc. and we would no longer have the other applicants(other than the person chosen for the job) resumes to show that our decision was based on qualifications and nothing else. Thanks in advance!

mrsbowden

We keep all solicited resumes for 1 year (although I have heard for EEO purposes you should keep them for 2) and we keep non-solicited resumes for 6 months. I think this is about average.

Don D

Federal law requires that you keep applications and solicited resumes for one year. And you must not destroy them, even then, if they are involved in any legal action, such as an EEOC charge. The easiest way to purge your file of applications is this: Keep them in a file for the remainder of the year in which they are received, regardless of the month received. On December 31, Box, seal, label and move them to a storage area for the whole of the next full calendar year. Destroy them at the end of the next calendar year. That way all of them are sure to be retained onsite, as required, for a minimum of 12 full calendar months and you aren't purging them monthly.

There are only two reasons to file and retain applications: (1) For doubtful company use in case you want to rummage around and find an old one you think you recall, (2) For the EEOC to use in a case against you.

Destroy them on a timely basis in accordance with law.

mrsbowden

Don, were can I find the law stated...I would like to show my supervisor? We have had diagreements in the past about appropriate times to keep sol. and unsol. --------Thanks again.

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-20-03 AT 08:16AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I'm not MWild, so I can't throw up a website for you. I have at least a dozen charts and books outlining exhaustive lists of what laws require the retention of which records. Both the Age Dirscrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Title VII require that: "Job applications, resumes other forms of job inquiries, promotions, demotions, transfers, etc be maintained 1 year from date of action. The EEOC and Title VII have long held that record creation is not required, but if made, must be retained, including application forms and resumes if those are accepted by the company as an expression of interest in employment opportunities and are in keeping with the announced practice of the company for accepting such documents. ADA, since its creation, also joins the list of federal acts requiring the same retention period. The ADEA and Title VII also state "Where an EEOC charge or lawsuit is filed, keep records until final disposition of the charge or lawsuit". One place you will find this addressed is (29 USC Sec.626(a) or 29 CFR Sec.1627.3)That's for ADEA. For Title VII, read (29 CFR Sec 1602.14-21)

If your policy is that unsolicited resumes are not accepted and are trashed, fine. But, you'd better practice that consistently and not keep a desk file of special ones you receive and trash the rest. The EEOC has long held that if your practice, or deviation from your stated practice, is that you do or will receive and review and consider unsolicited resumes, then those must be retained according to law. I'm just an HR guy, not a lawyer, but I've been through enough of these battles to know better than to try to ignore retention statutes or to say, "Hey, we don't keep those types of things". Your best defense, if charged, is to be able to show that your receipt and retention program is solid and your selection process is unbiased and non-discriminatory.

debs6882

Thank you all for your responses, they have been very helpful.