How much productivity is lost in your office while looking through files for an important document? How long should you keep contracts, payroll records and tax information? A sound document retention policy is an essential tool for any business to improve efficiency, minimize storage space needs, and help protect your company from legal or financial exposure.

Why Do I Need a Policy?
If your business is audited, or if you find yourself in litigation, access to documents is critical. But storing every scrap of paper and email costs money and creates clutter. Likewise, wholesale purging of documents raises noncompliance concerns and means you may not have important information available when a problem arises. A good document retention policy helps your business run more efficiently by ensuring that files are periodically cleaned up while maintaining ready access to important data.

What Documents Do I Need to Keep?
Every business is different. Consult with your attorney or business advisor to help craft a retention policy that meets your needs. But any policy should address the following key items:

• Employment files should be maintained for all current employees. Post-termination claims may arise long after the employee is gone, so keep their files long enough to receive notice of a claim, which may not occur until after the statute of limitations has expired. Because employee records often include sensitive personal information, they should be stored securely to avoid inadvertent disclosure.

• Legal documents such as contracts, leases, real estate documents, licensing agreements and patent or trademark registration should always be retained to ensure that you have them in the event of a dispute.

• Tax, payroll and accounting records are also important documents. Tax returns (federal and state) should be kept indefinitely. At a minimum, you also should maintain your gross receipts and expense receipts.

• Finally, don't forget about emails and other electronic data. More and more records are being maintained on computer network servers, desktop or laptop hard drives, and personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. Audits and litigation document requests routinely ask for electronically stored data. Make sure that your document retention policy addresses hard data and electronic data consistently.

How Do I Create a Policy?
There is no "one size fits all" document retention policy that is right for every business. A good policy tells your business what documents you can throw away, what you should keep and how long you should keep them. The lawyers at the Dunn Carney Closely Held Business Team can advise you on how to create and implement an appropriate retention policy for your business.

If you wish to receive further information regarding appropriate document retention, please contact our closely held business team leader, Randall L. Duncan, Esq., at 503-417-5490, and we would be glad to accommodate your request.

Closely Held
Business Team

The Closely Held Business Team - Dunn Carney is dedicated to assisting business owners in navigating through the opportunities and challenges the law presents to advance each owner’s success in business. They understand the multifaceted issues business owners face each day and the need for responsive and proactive legal counsel.

Team members include:
Randy Duncan, Team leader
Bob Allen
Ric Ashe
David Buono
Brian Cable
Jack Cooper
Ken Davis
Tim Hering
Frank Hilton
Elizabeth Howard
Scott Jonsson
Robert Kerr
JoDee Keegan
John O'Neil
Eric Smith
Kyle Stinchfield
Bob Winger
J. David Zehntbauer

About Dunn Carney's Employment Law Group

Dunn Carney's employment law practice is oriented towards representation of management, with a particular focus on prevention. We work with our clients in creating and maintaining policies and internal resolution techniques designed to minimize claims. When the inevitable judicial or administrative claims arise, Dunn Carney is prepared to assist its clients in a vigorous defense leading to an appropriate resolution. Our expertise covers the entire array of employment-related issues including discrimination and harassment claims (particularly sexual harassment), disability-related issues and other forms of unlawful employment practices, un-employment compensation, wage and hour issues, together with the expanding areas of concern resulting from employee terminations. Dunn Carney is recognized as having particular expertise in the drafting and enforcing of non-competition and trade secrets protections.

Team Members
George J. "Jack" Cooper
Scott A. Jonsson
Robert A. Kerr
Renee R. Stineman