Government

Main Table of Contents
Previous | Table of contents | Next

Retention Guidelines for Common Administrative Records of the Government of Canada

Section 1, Part 5

Human Resources Management Function
(Function-based arrangement)

Section 2 - General Retention Guideline - Human Resources Management Function

General Retention Guideline

2.1 Policy and Procedures 5 years after superseded

2.2 Routine 2 years

2.3 Personnel (employee) File: The legal consent for the disposition and retention of civilian personnel or employee files is authorized via MIDA 98/005 Human Resources Management Function, Appendix I - Terms and Conditions, Section C. Authorization to Destroy. Personnel or employee files shall be retained by the current employing institution for the duration of employment in organizations listed under the schedule of the Privacy Act plus one (1) year. They should then be transferred by the institution to the Library and Archives Canada, Regional Service Centre (RSC) in Manitoba. Library and Archives Canada will destroy the personnel file when the individual turns eighty (80) years of age provided that two years have elapsed since the last administrative action. This is a Retention and Disposal Standard governed by the Privacy Act, the Public Service Employment Act and prescribed by Treasury Board that must be adhered to. See Treasury Board's publication Info Source: Sources of Federal Employee Information, Standard Bank PSE 901, Employee Personnel Record for additional information on this standard bank. For help regarding the transfer of Personnel files see the Guidelines for the Transfer of Civilian Personnel Files located on LAC's website. Note that Military personnel files are not addressed by these retention guidelines. The legal consent for the disposition and information on retention of military personnel files are covered under the Institutional Specific Disposition Authority 85/012. Following the expiry of their retention period they should be transferred to the Ottawa Federal Records Centre.

Note: In the absence of specific retention guidance and unless specified otherwise, the five year retention period for policy and procedures and the two year retention period for routine records should be applied to similar records related to each sub-heading listed in the table below.

Retention periods should always be interpreted and applied "after all administrative actions are completed." i.e., 2 years after all administrative actions are completed

Any activities, sub-functions or sub-headings that fall outside the General Retention Guideline for policy and procedures, routine and personnel will be identified in the table below.

Caution: For purposes of maintaining an audit trail of transactions in accordance with the Policy on Electronic Authorization and Authentication and the Policy on Internal Audit, it may be prudent to retain those records for a standard period of time; that is, 6 fiscal years for all financial transaction records. Each institution should carefully consider their practices and decide which records should be kept for the 6 year period.

TBS 1996 "Policy on Electronic Authorization and Authentication" www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=12206

states that the "electronic authorization and authentication system and processes should be designed to ensure complete auditability. The audit trail should include data and files required to reconstruct the sequence of events and transactions processed"

and

states that "Deputy heads of all departments are responsible for ensuring that the audit committee receives all of the information and documentation needed or requested to fulfil its responsibilities, subject to applicable legislation"

Main Table of Contents
Previous | Table of contents | Next