I hadn't intended to chime in on this, but what the heck! For some institutions the appropriate retention period may be longer than the minimum required by higher authority. Background checks for jobs in the Harris County Sheriff's Department, for instance is part of the Employee Selection Record with a minimum EEOC/State Library and Archives retention period of 2 years. BUT the County Attorney requests that all County Employee Selection Records be kept for 3 years because it could be as long as 6 months from when someone starts an action against the County until the person with the record is aware of it. (Applicant has two years to file + EEOC Processing Time + Civil Process to Be Served to County + Process to be Forwarded to County Attorney + County Attorney to Assign Complaint to Appropriate Assistant County Attorney + Assistant County Attorney to Notify Department Head + Department Head to Notify Records Clerk + Records Clerk to Notify Records Center + Procrastination and Ball Dropping = Longer than One Would Expect.) BUT three years is still not appropriate for the Sheriff's Applicant Records because applicants go through an extensive and EXPENSIVE background check to eliminate the patently undesirables and to defer those with minor but recent disqualifying conduct. It is not uncommon, however, for permanently rejected applicants to reapply every few years. Rather than to repeat the process every time a person reapplies, it is more efficient to keep the background checks an extended period (yet to be determined but probably 20 years). Background Investigations for those hired becomes part of their permanent personnel record. Paul R. Scott, CA, CRM Records Management Officer Harris County, TX List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance