Personnel forms required for payroll purposes

Although there are a few exceptions, the vast majority of employers must withhold, deposit, pay and report federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes under the Federal Insurance and Contributions Act, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act and the Federal Income Tax Withholding law. When associates begin employment, have them complete a state and federal W-4 and keep both in their personnel files. These must be retained four years after the employee's termination date.

Submitting a copy of the federal W-4 to the Department of Revenue is required in order to comply with the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. A business can elect to send an equivalent form that includes the date the employee signed the W-4 or the date hired; the employee's name, address and Social Security number; and the company name, address and federal tax identification number. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was enacted to facilitate collection of child support payments and prevent fraudulent unemployment and workers' compensation claims. The Missouri New Hire Reporting Law is similar to the federal law.

A wide variety of data must be maintained based upon requirements in the Civil Rights Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Equal Pay Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act. Businesses with two or more associates must comply with the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits sex discrimination with regard to wages, benefits and payments other than wages. All organizations must abide by the FLSA, which provides rules on overtime, child labor and whether jobs are exempt or nonexempt. The FLSA also prohibits discrimination due to gender.

Retained information

The different laws require that enterprises keep a significant amount of information in each full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary team member's personnel file. Basic personal data needed consists of name, address, gender and date of birth. Work-related information must include occupations, promotions, demotions, transfers, training, layoffs, recalls, discharges and job classifications.

Wages, work hours and benefit-related data consists of weekly compensation, total wages per pay period, overtime hours and pay, annuity and pension payments, fringe benefits paid and tips, rates of pay or any other basis of payment, records explaining any gender-based wage differentials, daily hours worked and total hours for each workweek, date of each payment of wages and the period covered by the payment, total daily or weekly straight-time earnings exclusive of overtime premiums, and the time of day and day of week for beginning the workweek.

Tax and other payroll withholding information includes the amount of wages subject to tax withholding, agreements with employees to withhold additional tax, actual taxes withheld and dates withheld, signed payroll deduction authorization forms, reasons for any differences between total tax payments and actual tax payments, and total additions to and deductions from wages for each pay period.

Depending upon the specific law, the information must be maintained anywhere from one to four years. If a lawsuit is filed, a company is required to reserve relevant paperwork until final disposition of the charges.

Businesses should seek legal advice from their attorneys to ensure proper information storage and related issues.

Lynne Haggerman is president/owner of Haggerman & Associates, a firm specializing in management training, retained search, outplacement and human resource consulting. She can be reached at lynne@haggermanandassociates.com or haggermanandassociates.com.