# basic employment and earnings records — How long federal regulations require records to be kept: retention periods, what starts the clock, and who they bind

For basic employment and earnings records, regulation is 29 CFR Part 516; regulator / programme is DOL Wage and Hour (FLSA); retention period is at least 2 years; when the clock starts is from the date of last entry; who it binds is each employer required to maintain records under this part, recorded from its source on 2026-08-11.

- **Regulation:** 29 CFR Part 516 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Regulator / programme:** DOL Wage and Hour (FLSA) _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Record type:** basic employment and earnings records _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Retention period:** at least 2 years _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **When the clock starts:** from the date of last entry _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Who it binds:** each employer required to maintain records under this part _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> ( a ) Supplementary basic records: Each employer required to maintain records under this part shall preserve for a period of at least 2 years. ( 1 ) Basic employment and earnings records. From the date of last entry, all basic time and earning cards or sheets on which are entered the daily starting and stopping time of individual employees, or of separate work forces, or the amounts of work accomplished by individual employees on a daily, weekly, or pay period basis (for example, units produced) when those amounts determine in whole or in part the pay period earnings or wages of those employees.

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/part-516

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/).