State Laws on Recordkeeping

In addition to federal recordkeeping requirements, some states with wage and hour laws will have their own requirements for keeping and storing records related to their wage and hour requirements.

Your state's requirements are separate from federal law. One will not override the other. If you state requires you to store records for a longer time period, only those records related to complying with your state's wage and hour requirements must be retained beyond the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirement of three years. However, for practical purposes, it's best to keep all your records for the longest time period specified by the laws that apply to you. If your state's requirements are less demanding, you must still keep all necessary records for three years to comply with federal law.

State Law

Click on your state on the map below to see the requirements your state has relating to wage and hour recordkeeping. The states that are blue are the states that do not specify recordkeeping provisions. Please note that all states that impose an income tax also impose recordkeeping requirements for payroll tax purposes, which may be different than the requirements shown below .