Timekeeping Data Privacy: Retention Periods, Security and Employee Access to Records

Under the FLSA, you must keep payroll records for 3 years and time cards and other supplementary records for 2 years, and you must protect that data like any other employee information. Timekeeping records carry names, addresses, pay rates and sometimes location, so privacy and security are part of compliance, not an extra. State law often adds longer retention periods and gives employees rights to see their own records.

This guide explains the federal retention rules, how to set a retention schedule, what security basics matter, what employees can ask to see, and when you should keep records longer than usual. Because state rules differ, check with counsel or your state labor department for the periods that apply to you.

What federal law requires you to keep

The recordkeeping rules are in 29 CFR Part 516. For nonexempt employees, you keep the employee's name, address and occupation, birth date if under 19, the start of the workweek, the regular hourly rate, hours worked each workday and each workweek, straight-time earnings, the overtime premium, additions and deductions, total wages and the pay date and pay period.

Retention has two tiers. Payroll records are kept for 3 years (516.5). Time cards and supplementary records, such as wage rate tables and records of additions or deductions, are kept for 2 years (516.6). The FLSA does not require a particular method, so a cloud system, a spreadsheet or paper can all qualify if the record is complete and accurate. For the full list, see FLSA timekeeping requirements.

Where state law is stricter

Many states require employers to keep wage and hour records for longer than the federal minimum, and some specify exactly what a pay statement must show. Because the stricter rule controls, a multi-state employer often ends up adopting the longest period as its standard. Check each state where you have employees, including remote workers, since the employee's work location usually decides which law applies.

A simple approach is a retention schedule with three columns: record type, retention period, and the legal source. Update it once a year. If you are unsure, keep time and payroll records longer rather than shorter, because the cost of storing digital data is small compared with the cost of having no proof in a dispute. Note that the lookback for FLSA claims is 2 years, or 3 for willful violations.

Setting a retention and purge schedule

Retention works best when you attach a clear date to each record. Say a pay period ends January 15, 2026, and wages are paid on January 22, 2026. Payroll records for that pay date must be kept until at least January 22, 2029, which is 3 years later. The related time cards must be kept until at least January 22, 2028, which is 2 years later. If your state requires 4 years, you use the later date.

Do not purge records one by one by hand. Choose a single date each year to review what has passed its retention period, document what you deleted and apply the same rule to every employee. Selective deletion looks suspicious if a dispute follows. If a claim, audit or lawsuit is pending or reasonably expected, stop deleting the related records until counsel says it is safe to resume.

Security basics for time and payroll data

Time records are not as sensitive as Social Security numbers, but they sit next to them in payroll. Treat the whole set with care:

- Limit access by role. Managers see their own team, payroll sees everyone, and employees see only their own entries.

- Use strong sign-in. Individual logins and unique passwords, never shared accounts.

- Keep an audit trail. You should be able to show who viewed or changed a record.

- Back up and restrict exports. A spreadsheet export emailed to a personal account is a common leak.

- Plan for incidents. All states have data breach notification laws, so know who to call and what to document.

Paper records need the same discipline: a locked cabinet and a short list of people with the key.

Employee access to their own records

The FLSA does not give employees a general right to inspect their time records, but many states do. Some states let employees request copies of payroll records, and several require access within a set number of days. Even when no law requires it, giving an employee their own time entries when they ask usually resolves a pay dispute faster.

Take a request seriously and respond in writing. For instance, an employee earning $19.00 per hour questions 6 hours missing from a pay period. You show the punch history, find an unrecorded Friday afternoon, correct it and pay 6 x $19.00 = $114.00 on the next payroll. Quick access turned a potential claim into a small fix. For the process of correcting entries safely, read missed punches and timesheet corrections.

Records for the DOL and for data you should not collect

When the Wage and Hour Division asks for records, you generally must make them available at the place of employment or a central records office, and if they are kept elsewhere you should be able to produce them within 72 hours of a request. Cloud storage makes this easy; a box in a warehouse across town does not.

The privacy side is data minimization. Collect what you need to pay people correctly and to defend those payments: punches, rates, schedules, leave, and location at clock-in if you use it with notice. Avoid collecting what you have no purpose for. Biometric identifiers need special care in some states, as covered in biometric time clocks and BIPA.

How SimpleWorkshift Helps With Timekeeping Records

SimpleWorkshift keeps time entries in the cloud, so records are available for review from the web or the iOS and Android app whenever you need them. Each entry has a timestamp and a GPS location captured at the punch, and managers can see entries and exceptions in real time. Work schedules, time bank, PTO tracking and absence tracking sit in the same place, so one record supports the whole picture of hours and leave.

Custom reports and dashboards let you pull hours by employee and period for an audit, a dispute or a retention review, and payroll closing gives you one approved set of numbers each period. It is built with an FLSA compliance focus for teams of any size. Try it free for 30 days, with no contracts, at simpleworkshift.com.