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HR document management · employee records

Three files per employee. Each one opens only for the people it should.

Content Central keeps the personnel file, the I-9s and the medical and leave paperwork apart, decides who may open each by role and department, records every look, and keeps each record exactly as long as its rule says. In the cloud or on your own servers.

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One employee, three separate files. The personnel file, with offer letter, reviews, training and discipline, opens for HR and her manager. The I-9 file is kept apart and opens for HR only. The medical and leave file opens only for HR benefits staff, who must give a reason before it opens.EMPLOYEEE-20417Dana Whitfield · OperationsPersonnel fileOffer · reviews · training · disciplineHRHer managerI-9 fileForm I-9 and its copies, kept apartHRMedical and leaveLeave certifications · accommodationsHR benefitsreason required to open
One employee's records, split three ways. Fictional employee.

Access by role

Write your access rules as a grid. Content Central enforces the grid.

Permissions are set per document type. A department field limits managers to their own people. Sensitive types can require a reason before they open, and the reason stays in the document's history. This grid is an example; yours will differ.

RecordHRDepartment managerPayrollBenefits
Personnel fileOpensOwn department onlyHiddenHidden
Performance reviewsOpensOwn department onlyHiddenHidden
Form I-9OpensHiddenHiddenHidden
Payroll and tax formsOpensHiddenOpensHidden
Benefits enrollmentOpensHiddenHiddenOpens
Medical and leaveOpens with a reasonHiddenHiddenOpens with a reason

Scroll sideways on a phone to see every role.

Sign-in your IT team already runs. Active Directory or SAML single sign-on, with authenticator-app codes required for everyone if you choose.

Every look is on the record. Views, downloads, searches and deletions are logged with who and when, so you can answer “who opened this file?”

Names match your HR system. Employee name and department can be looked up from your HR or payroll database by employee ID as each document is filed.

How long, and from when

Each record has its own clock. Many start the day someone leaves.

Federal minimums for private employers. States often require longer, and counsel should confirm your schedule before you set it.

Form I-9

3 years after hire, or 1 year after employment ends, whichever is later

Clock starts: Hire and termination dates

USCIS

Applications and hiring records

At least 1 year; until resolved if a charge is filed

Clock starts: The record or the decision

29 CFR 1602.14

Payroll records

At least 3 years

Clock starts: Last entry

29 CFR 516.5

Timecards and wage computations

At least 2 years

Clock starts: Last entry

29 CFR 516.6

Employment tax records

At least 4 years

Clock starts: Tax due or paid

IRS

FMLA leave records

At least 3 years; medical certifications kept separately

Clock starts: The record

29 CFR 825.500

Medical information

In separate, confidential files

Clock starts: Any time

29 CFR 1630.14

In Content Central

Set a retention schedule on each document type, with a destruction schedule for when removal runs. The retention page shows every document and the time it has left, with those about to go in red.

For clocks that start at termination

A workflow rule can watch the termination date field and, a set time after it, move the file to a former-employees folder or email HR to review it. Nothing is removed until your schedule says so.

When someone asks

Three requests every HR team gets. None should mean a day in the file room.

A Notice of Inspection arrives

Employers get at least three business days to produce their Forms I-9. Because the I-9s live in their own catalog, you search it, export the list and hand over exactly those, without anyone’s personnel file coming along.

A former employee files a charge

Records relevant to the charge have to be kept until it is resolved. Put that employee’s documents on legal hold: they are kept indefinitely, overriding their schedule, and the override records who set it.

An employee asks to see their file

Whether and how they may is set by your state. When the answer is yes, find everything filed under their employee ID in one search, and merge it into a single PDF to hand over.

Is anything missing?

Know which files are incomplete before an auditor does.

Define the documents every employee must have, keyed on the employee ID. Content Central gathers them, even across the separate catalogs, and marks each employee Complete or Incomplete with the missing types listed. A scheduled report lists every incomplete file, so the gaps are fixed while the person still works there.

Permissions still apply: a manager sees that a document exists only if they may open it.

E-20417 · Dana Whitfield

Incomplete · 1 missing
  • Signed offer letterFound
  • Form W-4Found
  • Form I-9Found
  • Handbook acknowledgmentMissing
  • Benefits enrollmentFound

Example of a required-documents check. Fictional employee.

Bring your access rules and your retention schedule. We will show them running.

A free live demo of Content Central, set up with your record types and roles.

Book a free demo

Still have cabinets of personnel files?

CapturePoint 6 scans them into a folder per employee, with the I-9s and benefits paperwork already split out.

Scanning personnel files

Since 2002, more than 1,000 organizations have used Ademero software.