Covered employers should be aware of their obligations to maintain records under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). Section 825.500 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires the retention of certain FMLA records for three years. Failure to maintain these records can result in the Department of Labor assessing penalties against employers.

Further, employers should treat these regulations as the minimum requirement for retention of leave records. This is because certain states such as California, New Jersey and New York have their own family medical leave acts that apply in addition to the federal FMLA. Such documentation can also be useful in the defense of an employment discrimination claim and help refute any employee allegations related to the leave.

Of course, if an employer anticipates litigation and leave records are relevant evidence, an attorney should be retained, and such documents should be subjected to a legal hold process. Thus, when crafting policies to guide an organization’s information governance efforts, such as document retention and legal hold policies, employers should consider the manner that information assets are used by various stakeholders in the business as well as applicable recordkeeping laws and regulations. This allows organizations to utilize the records in a manner that maximizes their usefulness to an organization while minimizing costs and legal risk.

If your organization is seeking support with information governance, our team has solutions to assist clients in their efforts to maximize the usefulness of information assets while minimizing the cost and risk associated with their use. At CODISCOVR, we deliver client-focused, defensible, and solutions that are tailored to each organization’s specific needs. Reach out to Nicholas Berenato, Information Governance Principal, CODISCOVR. Nick is an attorney that collaborates with clients to address legal and financial exposure from their information assets through information governance. He develops strategies and policies to enable clients to effectively manage their data in a manner that minimizes costs and allow clients to leverage their data to support their business processes.