Personnel and Payroll Records

Whether your organization is small (consisting primarily of part-time paid staff) or large (fully staffed operation), personnel and payroll records are crucial for human resource management. It is the responsibility of the organizations to ensure that these records exist, are up-to-date, and are kept for the appropriate amount of time.

Personnel and payroll records serve the following purposes:

1. To ensure compliance with ­provincial legislation for payroll record keeping;
   find out if your organization may need to comply with federal legislation
2. To provide easy access for employers to find information about the employee;
3. To protect the employer in the event of a discrepancy or lawsuit;
4. And finally, to provide transparent hiring and record keeping procedure for funders.

Payroll records should contain the:

• name, address, and birth date of the employee;
• rate of wages, number of daily hours worked, amount of all deductions made from paid wages;
• date of the beginning of the employment and, where applicable, the date of temporary lay-off or termination;
• date of annual vacation and amount of vacation pay accorded to employee;
• and, finally, the dates on which each 24-hour rest period is given (a 24-hour rest period is required).

In Newfoundland and Labrador, employers are required to keep personnel records for a period of 4 years dating from the last entry recorded in the employee file. Find out more about Labour Standards at the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Labour Relations Agency website.

More information regarding employee/employer relationships can be viewed on the Human Resources and Social Development Canada Labour Program's website or on Service Canada's HR for Employers website.

Your organization is responsible for any policy that relates to personnel files and record keeping. While your organization must decide what documentation is necessary for personnel files, the following is a list of items that you may want to include:

• resume of employee and application for employment
• transcripts if submitted or required for the position
• job description if not included in contract
• original contract of employment signed by employee and employer (including name of supervisor if not signing authority)
• salary and salary history
• TD1 form for tax purposes
• copies of any form the employee was required to fill out, including any pension or medical benefits form
• doctors notes for missed time but not medical/disability information*
• performance evaluations, letters of recognition, official reprimands, disciplinary action, and any other appropriate material relating to the employee's job performance. A copy of this material should also be given to the employee.
• comments provided by references (all employees should have supplied references prior to joining the organization)

Remember personnel records should be kept confidential! Hard copies should be locked in a filing cabinet or other safe place. Any electronic personnel files should also be kept confidential!

*Medical or disability information should not be included in a personnel file – only information pertinent to a person’s job performance should be included. All other non-job performance information should be kept in a separate file.

According to the provincial Human Rights Code, an employer is only entitled to medical information that is job related. Requests for medical information from an employee are limited to data which indicates the employee’s capabilities in relation to specific job duties. Visit the Human Rights Commission website for more information.

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