# any personnel or employment record made or kept by an employer — How long federal regulations require records to be kept: retention periods, what starts the clock, and who they bind

For any personnel or employment record made or kept by an employer, regulation is 29 CFR 1602.14; regulator / programme is EEOC; retention period is a period of one year; when the clock starts is from the date of the making of the record or the personnel action involved, whichever occurs later; who it binds is the employer, recorded from its source on 2026-08-11.

- **Regulation:** 29 CFR 1602.14 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Regulator / programme:** EEOC _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Record type:** any personnel or employment record made or kept by an employer _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Retention period:** a period of one year _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **When the clock starts:** from the date of the making of the record or the personnel action involved, whichever occurs later _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Who it binds:** the employer _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Exceptions and notes:** where a charge of discrimination has been filed, or an action brought by the Commission or the Attorney General, all personnel records relevant to the charge or action must be preserved until final disposition of the charge or the action

## What the source says

> Any personnel or employment record made or kept by an employer (including but not necessarily limited to requests for reasonable accommodation, application forms submitted by applicants and other records having to do with hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off or termination, rates of pay or other terms of compensation, and selection for training or apprenticeship) shall be preserved by the employer for a period of one year from the date of the making of the record or the personnel action involved, whichever occurs later.

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XIV/part-1602/subpart-C/section-1602.14

Last verified: 2026-08-11. Review by: 2027-08-11.
Part of [How long federal regulations require records to be kept: retention periods, what starts the clock, and who they bind](https://referencesource.org/record-retention-periods-federal/).