Personnel files and record keeping
As the employer, the board will need to keep and remember a certain amount of information. Generally, recording keeping is part of the work delegated to the principal, who may further delegate this to someone else such as an Office Manager or Administrative Assistant.
The collection and retention of information must comply with the Privacy Act 2000 (the Act).
Care Records
In light of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission, work is underway to update the retention and disposal rules. Until then, please be familiar with this records protection order which will be in place until the work is complete. Please note especially the Category 2 records which relate to employees.
Ultimately, if there’s any doubt, the records should be protected.
What records are required to be kept?
Information from the appointment process
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The employee's application for the position including a curriculum vitae
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The letter of appointment, and any other correspondence
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The employment agreement or the name of the agreement under which the employee is employed
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The letter of acceptance of appointment
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Payroll information (tax number, PAYE, any deductions, for example, union fees where applicable)
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Verification of any previous service (where relevant for leave entitlements, etc.)
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Police vet report and signed police vet application
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Qualifications/practicing certificate
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The employee's home address and telephone number
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The employee's next of kin
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Timing and content of the induction.
Business-as-usual information
Other information likely to be added to the employee's personnel file would include:
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Details of superannuation contributions, if any
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Dates of entitlement for each annual leave and sick leave allocation
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Authorities for pay deductions, if appropriate
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Dates of salary increments
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Any decisions of the board (or principal) regarding the employee (for example, a decision on appointment)
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Dates on which annual leave or any other leave was taken
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Amounts paid in respect of leave taken
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Any correspondence relating to the granting of parental leave
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Record of performance reviews
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Details of any courses, further qualifications or development programmes undertaken
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Decisions concerning written complaints against the employee if substantiated by the appropriate process
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A record of oral warnings, and/or copies of written warnings as part of the disciplinary process
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Letter of praise/compliments.
Time and wage information
Employers are required under the Employment Relations Act 2000, to keep the following wages and time records showing:
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The employee's name
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The employee's age (if under 20 years of age)
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The employee's postal address
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The kind of work the employee usually does
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The type of employment agreement under which the employee is employed (for example, whether collective or individual)
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The title and expiry date of any collective agreement covering that employee, and the employee's classification under it
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Where necessary, for the purposes of calculating the employee's pay, the hours between which the employee is employed on any day, and the days on which he or she is employed during any pay period, and
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The wages paid to the employee each pay period and the method used to calculate the pay.
Holiday information
Under the Holidays Act 2003, boards are required to record:
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The name of the employee
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The date employment commenced
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The days on which an employee works, if the information is relevant to entitlement or payment under the Holidays Act
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The date the employee last became entitled to annual holidays
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The employee's current entitlement to annual holidays
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The employee's current entitlement to sick leave
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The dates any annual holiday, sick, or bereavement leave was taken
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The amount of payment for any annual holidays, sick leave and bereavement leave taken
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The dates of and payment for any public holiday worked
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The number of hours worked on any public holiday
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The date on which the employee became entitled to any alternative holiday for any public holiday worked
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The dates and payment of any public holiday or alternative holiday on which the employee did not work, but for which the employee had an entitlement to payment
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The cash value of board and lodgings provided
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The cash value of any alternative holidays that the employee has surrendered for payment
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The date of termination
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The amount of pay for holidays on termination.
End of the employment relationship information
If the employee leaves the school, a record should be placed on their file as to the final date of employment and any specific payments made such as unused leave.
Design
For some information which is repetitive, a board may choose to design standard forms on which to record information and to make finding that information on a file easier (for example, schedules of teacher service).
Privacy Act considerations
Storage
All personal information must be secure against loss, modification, misuse, unauthorised access or unauthorised disclosure. To understand your obligations under the Act more, we recommend this articleopen_in_new from the Privacy Commissioner.
When an employee leaves the school, it is expected that their file would be retained by the school for a certain period in case of any future inquiries (for example, wages and time records must be kept for 7 years).
Other agencies
Schools that are handing personal information to other agencies in connection with the provision of a service of the school have a responsibility to ensure that the other agency will be complying with the Act. One way of doing this is to provide for compliance in any agreement with that agency.
When an employee transfers
If an employee leaves the school to work for another state or state-integrated school, originals of certain information should be supplied to the new board (you should retain photocopies of this information for your files for the appropriate retention period).
The information should be kept to a minimum. Only that which is relevant to the employment/service needs of the new employer and information on the appropriate entitlements is necessary.
For example:
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Verification of current and any previous service (list of positions held and dates of tenure, as evidenced by appointment and acceptance letters).
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Any leave entitlement still outstanding (for example, unused sick leave) and particulars of leave entitlements based on length of service.
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Details of superannuation contributions, if any.
Collection
All files and records should be collected by lawful, reasonably unobtrusive, and fair means, and be complete, relevant, and up to date.
You must also take reasonable steps to ensure personal information is stored securely.
To understand your obligations under the Act more, we recommend reading the privacy responsibilities articleopen_in_new from the Privacy Commissioner.
Correction
The Act also gives the employees right to request access to information on their personal file and are entitled to seek correction where any information is considered inaccurate.
There are some situations where an employer may refuse to give a person access to their personal information. These are set out in the Act.
For more information on correction and access, please read this helpful Privacy Commissioner article on privacy rightsopen_in_new.
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