I-9 Froms- how long to keep?

wahlhr · September 2007

I know the I-9 book says to keep for 3 years after hire OR 1 year after term date which ever is later - the term date would always be the later date, right?

If someone has been here for say 20 years, would I still need an active i-9 on record or is it safe to get rid of anyone's i-9's that have been here for more than the 3 year time limit? Thanks!

Candycane · September 2007

I keep all active employees in one part of my binder ... then if they leave/terminate they get moved to the back of the folder and I mark the purge date (either the 3 years or 1 year depending).

californian · September 2007

Might help if you take the I-9 instructions literally: 3 years after hire or 1 year after term date WHICHEVER IS LONGER. So - if someone leaves after 6 months of employment, you save for 3 years after hire. If someone works for you for 20 years, you keep the paperwork for 1 year after term date (whenever that occurs). The object is to hold onto the paperwork after the person leaves the company. Don't get rid of all existing employees who have I-9s older than 3 years! You need I-9s for everyone who is still employed by the company.

Kathy8714 · September 2007

You need to keep an I9 for all of your active employees. You have to keep the terms for 1year after their termed date if they worked for your company for more than three years. You have to keep it for 3 years after the hire date if they worked for the company for less than 3 years. I hope this helps.

laurajbeck · September 2007

I created the grid below from info I found just a couple of weeks ago on SHRM's site to give to my clients to keep them in compliance. Enjoy!

INS Form 1-9 , payroll records (time cards, wage rates, additions to / deductions from wages paid and records explaining sexually based wage differentials	3 years after date of hire or 1 year after date of termination, whichever is later
Applications (including those for temporary employment), personnel records relating to promotion, demotion, transfer, selection for training, layoff, recall, or discharge; job advertisements and postings; copies of employee benefit plans, seniority system and merit systems These are considered "support data" in personnel decisions and must be maintained.	2 years
Consumer credit reports	Employers must shred all documents that contain information derived from a credit report.
FMLA - Records should contain the following information: • Dates of leave taken by eligible employees; leave must be designated as FMLA. • For intermittent leave taken, the hours of leave. • Copies of employee notices and documents describing employee benefits or policies and practices regarding paid and unpaid leave. • Records of premium payments of employee benefits, records of any dispute regarding the designation of leave.	3 years
Tax records to include: - Amounts of wages subject to withholding. - Actual taxes withheld and dates withheld and agreements with employee to withhold additional tax. - Reason for any difference between total tax payments and actual tax payments. - Withholding forms (W-4, W4-E).	4 years from the date tax is due or paid

rcrulka · September 2007

The law requires you to keep the forms for the longer of 3 years or 1 year following termination. Either one could be the later date. If you hire a person on 11/1/2004, and he terminates 9/21/07, you will need to keep the form until 9/22/08, because that is longer than 3 years from 11/1/04 (which is 11/1/07). On the other hand, if the person was hired 11/1/06, and terms on 9/21/07, you will keep the form until 11/2/09 (which is 3 years from 11/1/06) and longer than one year from the term date of 9/21/07 which would be 9/22/08). All this confusion is why many emloyers simply keep all I-9's for 3 years following the termination; that way is much simpler, even though it is more than the law requires.

As for your 20- year employee: The law requires an I-9 on anyone hired after 11/6/86. So, if a person was hired in 1985, and has been with the company all that time with no break in service, no I-9 is needed.

SFbay · October 2007

I attended a conference where an employment attorney stressed that you should never dispose of an active employee's I-9 form. She said a lot of employers make this mistake. It would be a violation of the law.

1211426 · November 2007

One other point that may help is that it while the regs don't say where to keep the I-9s I have found that it is better to keep them in a separate location, not in the employee files. If the Dept of Labor comes in for any reason they will almost always ask to see a certain number of I-9s on your current employees, and on some terminated employees. If you can go to a drawer, or a binder and pull them that usually satisfies them. If the forms are in the employee files then they tend to want to look at the entire file while they have it pulled. Not that we have anything to hide - but why offer up information you are asked to provide!

IT HR · November 2007

If you haven't heard - there is a new I-9 form that must effective immediately.

You can find it here:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf

TXHRGuy · November 2007

Unless something has changed recently, payroll record retention periods are static, not related to when an employee is terminated unless the employee is working for a federal contractor.

There is an excellent resource here: http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/CMS_000270.asp

There is an I-9 administration handbook out there, too. Search the ICE website andyou should be able to find it.

I-9 Froms- how long to keep?

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