Guide to Business Records Retention Requirements

O.C.G.A. Title 34 -- LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

AMUSEMENT RIDE SAFETY
BOILERS AND PRESSURE VESSELS, REGULATION OF--BOILER AND PRESSURE VESSEL SAFETY ACT
CARNIVAL RIDE SAFETY
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY

WORKERS' COMPENSATION
GENERAL PROVISIONS
GROUP SELF-INSURANCE FUNDS
WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE STATISTICAL AGENT

Amusement Ride Safety

Citation: O.C.G.A. Section 34-12-11 Owner recordkeeping.
Regulating Agency: Advisory Board on Amusement Ride Safety and the Department of Labor.
Requirement: To maintain up-to-date maintenance, inspection, and repair records between inspection periods for each amusement ride in accordance with such standards and regulations as are adopted by the Department of Labor pursuant to O.C.G.A. Title 34, Chapter 12.
Persons Affected: Owners and lessees of amusement rides.
Retention Period: Between inspection periods until the next inspection.

Boilers and Pressure Vessels, Regulation of--Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Act

Citation: O.C.G.A. Section 34-11-15 Filing and maintenance of special investigator's report; issuance and suspension of inspection certificate.
Regulating Agency: Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Rules of the Department of Labor.
Requirement: To maintain in files an inspection record which shall list, by number and such abbreviated description as may be necessary for identification, (1) each pressure vessel covered by O.C.G.A. Title 34, Chapter 11; (2) the date of the last inspection of each pressure vessel; and (3) the approximate date for the next inspection.
Persons Affected: Each company operating pressure vessels covered by an owner or user inspection service meeting the requirements of subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. Section 34-11-10.
Retention Period: Not specified.

Carnival Ride Safety

Citation: O.C.G.A. Section 34-13-11 Maintenance, inspection, and repair records.
Regulating Agency: Advisory Board on Carnival Ride Safety and the Department of Labor.
Requirement: To maintain up-to-date maintenance, inspection, and repair records for each carnival ride in accordance with such standards and regulations as are adopted by the Department of Labor pursuant to O.C.G.A. Title 34, Chapter 13.
Persons Affected: Owners and lessees of carnival rides.
Retention Period: Between inspection periods until the next inspection.

Employment Security

Citation: O.C.G.A. Section 34-8-121 Information or records shall be private and confidential; release authorized; maintenance of records; destruction of outdated records.
Regulating Agency: Department of Labor.
Requirement: (1) to keep true and accurate work records containing such information as the Commissioner may prescribe; and (2) to keep records of the street address of each establishment, branch, outlet, or office of the employer, the nature of the operation, the number of persons employed, and the wages paid at each establishment, branch, outlet, or office.
Persons Affected: With respect to item (1) above, each employing unit. With respect to item (2) above, each employer.
Retention Period: Not specified.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Sections 34-8-33 (definition of "employer") and 34-8-34 (definition of "employing unit").

Citation: Rule 300-2-6-.01 Employer records. Amended.
Regulating Agency: Department of Labor.
Requirement: To maintain records for each individual engaged in employment, containing the following information: (1) name; (2) social security account number; (3) state or states in which his services are performed, and, if any services are performed outside the State of Georgia and are not incidental to the service within the State of Georgia, his base of operations (or, if there is no base of operations, the place from which such services are directed or controlled) and his resident (by State); (4) date on which he was hired, rehired, or returned to work after temporary layoff and the date separated from work and reason therefor; (5) his remuneration paid for services and date of payment, showing separately cash remuneration, including special payments (such as bonuses, gifts, etc.) and remuneration in any medium other than cash (determined in accordance with rules or regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Labor), including special payments (such as bonuses, gifts, etc.); (6) amounts paid him as allowance of reimbursement for traveling or other business expenses, dates of payment, amounts of payment, and amounts of such expenditures actually incurred and accounted for by him; (7) with respect to any period for which he is paid: (i) on a fixed rate of pay per week or longer period, (ii) on a fixed daily basis, his daily rate, (iii) on a fixed hourly basis, his hourly rate, (iv) on a piece-rate or other variable-pay basis, the method by which his remuneration is computed; (8) with respect to pay periods in which he performs services in both covered and exempt employment: (i) hours spent in covered employment, (ii) hours spent in exempt employment; (9) beginning and ending dates of each pay period; (10) total amount of remuneration paid in each quarter for services; and (11) information from which it is possible to determine with respect to any worker: (i) earnings by pay-period weeks, if paid on a weekly basis, or, if not so paid, by calendar weeks or by other seven consecutive day periods; (ii) weeks of less than full-time work; (iii) time lost due to his unavailability for work.
Persons Affected: Each employing unit. [See O.C.G.A. Section 34-8-39 for the definition of "employing unit."]
Retention Period: A period of not less than seven (7) years after the calendar year in which the remuneration with respect to such services was paid or, if not paid, was due.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Sections 34-8-39 and 34-8-78.

Citation: Rule 300-2-7-.01 Identification of Employees. Amended.
Regulating Agency: Department of Labor.
Requirement: To ascertain the correct Social Security Account Number of each individual employed by the employer.
Persons Affected: Each employer.
Retention Period: Not specified.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Sections 34-8-70 and 34-8-78.

Citation: Rule 300-2-8-.04 Establishment, Administration and Dissolution of Group Accounts. Amended.
Regulating Agency: Department of Labor.
Requirement: To maintain separate accounts for each employer in an employer group for identification.
Persons Affected: Two or more employers who have entered into an agreement with the Georgia Employment Security Agency to establish a "Group Account."
Retention Period: Not specified.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Section 34-8-70.

Workers' Compensation

General Provisions

Citation: O.C.G.A. Section 34-9-12 Employer's record of injuries; availability of board records; supplementary report on termination of incapacity; penalty upon nonpayment; routine reports.
Regulating Agency: State Board of Workers' Compensation.
Requirement: To keep, on blanks approved by the State Board of Workers' Compensation, a record of all injuries, fatal or otherwise, received by employees in the course of their employment.
Persons Affected: Every employer subject to the provisions of O.C.G.A. Title 34, Chapter 9 (Workers' Compensation). [NOTE: O.C.G.A. Section 34-9-1(3) contains an extensive definition of the term, "employer."]
Retention Period: Not specified.

Group Self-Insurance Funds

Citation: Rule 120-2-34-.11 Books and Records; Examination.
Regulating Agency: Commissioner of Insurance.
Requirement: To hold and maintain all fund-related accounts, books, publications, records, and vouchers at the principal address shown on the Fund's Certificate of Authority.
Persons Affected: Group Self-Insurance Funds.
Retention Period: A term of at least three (3) years.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Section 34-9-174.

Workers' Compensation Insurance Statistical Agent

Citation: Rule 120-2-36-.07 Maintenance of Records by Authorized Statistical Agent(s)
Regulating Agency: Commissioner of Insurance.
Requirement: To maintain records of the type and kind reasonably adapted to the insurer's method and mode of operation, including: (1) its experience, (2) statistics including loss ratios, and (3) data and all relevant information collected or used by the insurer in connection with rates, rating plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, policy or bond forms, surveys or inspections made or used by the insurer.
Persons Affected: Every insurer authorized to transact workers' compensation insurance in the State of Georgia.
Retention Period: Not specified.
Related Code Sections: O.C.G.A. Sections 33-2-9, 33-9-20, 33-9-21, and 34-9-133.