HR sees time data when something goes wrong: a pay dispute, an audit, a complaint. Set it up so the answer is already on the page.
An employee says they worked through lunch. A manager says they did not. A payroll error is claimed. In each case, the useful record shows the original punch, any later edit, who made it and why. An edit trail turns an argument into a lookup. If your records are only totals, you cannot answer any of the three.
EZTime digital HR forms let you send, sign and file employee documents online.
Rather than reading every timesheet, review the unusual ones. A short list is enough to start.
Twenty minutes a month on this list catches most of the problems that later grow into claims.
Under federal wage rules, employers keep payroll records, including hours worked each day and week, for at least three years, and time cards and wage computation records for at least two. States can require longer, and some require records of meal periods. Retention is a floor; many HR teams keep records for as long as a claim might be filed. Check the period in your state, and do not destroy records during an audit or a dispute.
| Record | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Payroll register | 3 years |
| Time cards and schedules | 2 years |
| Wage rate tables | 2 years |
| Employment contracts | 3 years after ending |
A handbook that says meals are 30 minutes unpaid and a system that auto-deducts 45 is a conflict waiting to happen. When you change a policy, change the setup on the same date and keep the old version on file. Communicate the change in writing and have employees acknowledge it.
Managers approve time, so train them on the basics: approve only what you have seen, do not edit someone else’s punch without telling them, and never ask staff to work off the clock. A one page guide and a ten minute walkthrough is enough for most teams.
Time cards are only one of the files HR is asked to produce. Different agencies set different clocks, and the safest approach is to keep each record for the longest period that applies.
| Record | Agency | Minimum period |
|---|---|---|
| Form I-9 | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | 3 years after hire or 1 year after employment ends, whichever is later |
| Personnel and hiring records | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | 1 year from the record or the personnel action, longer if a charge is filed |
| FMLA leave records | U.S. Department of Labor | 3 years |
| OSHA 300 log and 301 forms | Occupational Safety and Health Administration | 5 years after the end of the calendar year |
| Employment tax records | Internal Revenue Service | At least 4 years |
Medical information, including leave certifications, belongs in a separate confidential file under the Americans with Disabilities Act, not in the general personnel file.
The details are fictional. A former cook claims to have worked through lunch on most shifts for a year. HR pulls the records. The punches show a meal-out and meal-in on 212 of 230 shifts. On 18 shifts, there is no meal punch, and on 11 of those a manager added a 30-minute deduction two days later without a reason.
Those 11 edits are the weak point. The 212 recorded meals support the employer; the edited days look like unpaid work. The fix for the future is simple: require a reason with every edit, alert managers when a meal is missed, and ask the employee to confirm the correction. Done the same way every time, the record answers the claim on its own.
Pick one employee at random and try to produce, in under an hour, everything an agency could ask for: the signed offer letter, Form I-9 from its separate file, the last two years of time records with any edits and reasons, pay rate history, leave records, policy acknowledgments and any safety training records. Note every item that took more than five minutes to find or did not exist. Fix the process behind each gap, then repeat the test with another employee next quarter. This small drill shows HR where the real risks are far better than a policy review, and it builds the habit of keeping records complete as you go rather than when an investigator calls.
EZTime gives HR a digital employee file with expiry reminders for documents, digital HR forms with e-signatures and onboarding and offboarding tracks in the HR module. Timecard corrections go through requests with manager approval and an audit trail, and monthly attendance reports can be signed digitally by employees. Meal and rest breaks are tracked with alerts, data history is kept for up to seven years, and reports export to PDF and Excel.
Use an acknowledgment step at the end of each pay period. The system should store the date and the user.
Limit edit rights to a few people and require a reason with each edit.
Preserve all records, stop any deletion schedule, and involve counsel before sharing documents.
Generally yes, if the records are complete, legible, protected and can be produced when an agency asks. Check any state rules on employee access to personnel files.
It is safer to keep I-9 forms separately, in one place, so you can produce them on request without exposing unrelated information.
Weekly overtime math
Where overtime starts each day
Estimate paid time off earned
Book a demo and we will show an exception report and edit history built from a sample month.
This page is general information, not legal, payroll or tax advice. Rules differ by state, city and contract, and they change. Check with a qualified professional before you act. Numbers in examples are made up.