Nolene asked "I'm curious to know how other companies have scheduled retirement-related records and what the thinking is behind their choice."

Nolene, in the Mayoral agencies of the City of New York, a subset of HR records is retained for "termination +56 years" (in this context, "termination" refers to final separation, for whatever reason).

There are several reasons for this designation, some of which are probably out of date.

Attendance and payroll records are used to calculate -- and verify -- pension payment.

There is, I believe, an actuarial assumption about the likely life span of retirees, on which the number of 56 years is based. IMO, this assumption is probably out of date, as people live longer life spans than formerly, but it's not completely unjustified.

I disagree with the statement made in another response, "no information has to be kept permanently." There ARE permanent records, though they are mercifully few:  land title records; birth certificates and death certificates come to mind.

One can argue, I suppose, that essential records of the storage of used nuclear fuels are not TRULY permanent, but I feel that most humans would think of 10,000 to 50,000 as not significantly different from permanent.

I like Sam McCollum's protocol requiring "responsible business units" that insist on categorising their records retention as "permanent" to justify it every five years. Maybe I can get attorneys to do that for their own records.  ;-)

Best regards,

Fred
---------------------------------
Frederic J. Grevin
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212-312-3903
Vice-President, Records Management
New York City Economic Development Corporation

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