Employee Files – Academic and Senior Administrative Staff

Function/Activity: To document the employment history of individual academic and senior staff from hiring to resignation/retirement and the administration of benefits, compensation and deductions.

Description/Type of Records: Annual reports, appeals, correspondence, award nominations and information on receipt of awards, benefits and pension records, disciplinary records, employment applications, confirmation of employment and salary letters, contracts, correspondence, curriculum vitae, employment authorization letters, fellowship notification letters, grant applications (copies), leave applications, letters of recommendation, overload duties and course load records, reports and correspondence, letters of appointment, recommendations for appointment and change to appointment, merit letters, research account applications, RRSP deduction forms, sabbatical proposals, applications and background materials, sabbatical fellowship research grant applications, secondment correspondence, tax forms, tenure applications, transcripts, trust appointment records. NOTE: This rule DOES NOT APPLY to records in the custody of the Faculty of Medicine.

Retention Rules

Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR)	Retention	Disposition
Human Resources	Termination + 70 years (5 years after termination retain only notices of appointment, cv, termination records, benefits and pension records)	Confidential shred or delete

Office of Secondary Responsibility (OSR)	Retention	Disposition
Faculties and Departments and Administrative Units
All except for emeriti/honorary status appointees:	Termination + 12 years (1 year after termination, destroy transitory records)	Confidential shred or delete
Sessionals and adjuncts:	Termination + 5 years (1 year after termination, destroy transitory records)	Confidential shred or delete
Emeriti	Until death of employee (1 year after termination destroy transitory records. 12 years after termination, retain only award records, sabbatical background records, and annual reports)	Confidential shred or delete

Restrictions
For Offices of Primary Responsibility (OPR):

In accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the following access restrictions will apply:

1. Main body of records: access restricted to the subject, supervisor(s), the President, the Provost & Vice-President (Academic), committees named in Procedures Pertaining to Appointment, Promotion and Tenure of Academic Staff (October 2008), Appendix A Confidentiality of Academic Staff Files (A.7) and Human Resources staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.
2. Records related to letters of recommendations or reference or other records created, explicitly or implicitly, in confidence:  access restricted to supervisor(s), the President, the Provost & Vice-President (Academic), committees named in Procedures Pertaining to Appointment, Promotion and Tenure of Academic Staff (October 2008), Appendix A Confidentiality of Academic Staff Files (A.7) and Human Resources staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.
3. Records related to benefits and pension administration: access restricted to the subject and benefit administrators.
4. Transitory documents: access restricted to the subject and supervisor(s), and Human Resources staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.

Application for access not covered by the above restrictions can be made through a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy access request.

 

Restrictions
For Offices of Secondary Responsibility:

In accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the following access restrictions will apply:

1. Main body of records: access restricted to the subject, supervisor(s), the President, the Provost & Vice-President (Academic), committees named in Procedures Pertaining to Appointment, Promotion and Tenure of Academic Staff (October 2008), Appendix A Confidentiality of Academic Staff Files (A.7) and faculty and departmental staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.
2. Records related to letters of recommendations or reference or other records created, explicitly or implicitly, in confidence:  access restricted to supervisor(s), the President, the Provost & Vice-President (Academic), committees named in Procedures Pertaining to Appointment, Promotion and Tenure of Academic Staff (October 2008), Appendix A Confidentiality of Academic Staff Files (A.7) and faculty and departmental staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.
3. Transitory documents: access restricted to the subject and supervisor(s), and faculty and departmental staff assigned the authority to compile, classify, annotate, read, retrieve, transfer or destroy this record series.

Application for access not covered by the above restrictions can be made through a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy access request.

Citations:
For Offices of Primary Responsibility:
Limitations Act, L-12, s.3 (1).

For Offices of Secondary Responsibility:
Faculties and Departments/Administrative Units
Limitations Act, L-12, s.3 (1).

Records Management Instructions
Offices of Primary Responsibility (OPR):

Each employee file will contain four (4) folders in order to ease the processing of access requests and to ensure the security of personal information in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (s) 38.:

1. Main body of records.
2. Records related to letters of recommendation or reference or other records created explicitly or implicitly in confidence.
3. Records related to benefits and pension administration.
4. Transitory documents, such as news releases, correspondence between employee and department head, dean, Provost or Human Resources, and correspondence between senior administrators regarding appeals related to the faculty member. DESTROY at yearly intervals.

The creation of these folders may be done in a manner convenient to the unit:

• “From this day forward,”
• Retroactively for all active files, or
• On an “as needed” basis.

The following record series must be retained separately from the employee files to ease the processing of access requests and the application of retention rules:

1. Complaints including letters of concern or complaint and accompanying documentation.
2. Grievance administration including grievance records and accompanying documentation. A file in this series will be maintained until a grievance is resolves or goes to arbitration, at which point the file is forwarded to Human Resources.
3. Participation in conferences and seminars.
4. Absence from Campus forms.

Records that are NOT filed with this series:
Records containing medical information will be maintained only at the University Staff Wellness Centre and are the property of the contractor.

Records Management Instructions
Offices of Secondary Responsibility (OSR):

Each employee file will contain four (3) folders in order to ease the processing of access requests and to ensure the security of personal information in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (s) 38.:

1. Main body of records.
2. Records related to letters of recommendation or reference or other records created explicitly or implicitly in confidence.
3. Transitory documents, such as news releases and other documents required for only a limited period of time in order to complete routine actions, or other records of short-term value. DESTROY at yearly intervals

The creation of these folders may be done in a manner convenient to the unit:

• “From this day forward,”
• Retroactively for all active files, or
• On an “as needed” basis.

The following record series must be retained separately from the employee files to ease the processing of access requests and the application of retention rules:

1. Complaints including letters of concern or complaint and accompanying documentation.
2. Grievance administration including grievance records and accompanying documentation. A file in this series will be maintained until a grievance is resolves or goes to arbitration, at which point the file is forwarded to Human Resources.
3. Participation in conferences and seminars.
4. Absence from Campus forms.
5. Payroll Payments and Deductions including casual payroll requisitions.

Records that are NOT filed with this series:

1. Anonymous material other than course evaluations conducted in accordance with Faculty or University-approved guidelines will not be filed in this series.
2. Records containing medical information will be maintained only at the University Staff Wellness Centre and are the property of the contractor.

Approval Information:

• Stuart McKinnon, Director of Human Resources
• Art Kirk, Director of Financial Services
• Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik, University Archivist
• Bonnie Woelk, University Records Committee (Chair)

10 December 1999; amended 26 September 2001; amended 22 January 2009; amended 27 January 2014.