Complaints and Permanent Investigation Reports 15 years
License Applications 50 years
Apprenticeship training report 3 years 3 years
Examination documents 2 years 3 years
Board meeting minutes Permanent Permanent
Quarterly license bulletins Permanently Permanently Website design By BotEap.comAnd that is just the beginning. All businesses must keep certain financial and human resource documents on file for a certain number of years, depending on the state. The following list provides general guidance on the amount of time various types of records should be kept: Website design By BotEap.com· Shareholder agreements, bylaws, minutes and other corporate governance documents: These documents must be kept permanently. Ideally, the copies should also be in the hands of your attorney.
· Contracts, leases and other key agreements, including insurance policies: These records must be kept for at least 10 years after they expire. Funeral home owners should also keep insurance policies on a permanent basis, as claims can occasionally arise for acts that occurred many years ago. (This is particularly true of environmental claims.) Keep a copy of the policy to establish potential coverage.
· Tax returns, financial statements and related documents: These documents must be kept permanently.
· Payroll Records: Also keep these documents permanently.
· Financial and accounting records, including journals, ledgers, and depreciation schedules: These generally need to be kept for 10 years after they are created. However, in the case of assets that may be long-lived or sold at a much later date, invoices or other documents establishing their cost will be required to establish a tax base. These documents must be kept indefinitely.
· personal records: Employee records, including applications, I-9 forms, and performance reviews, must be kept for at least seven years after the person’s employment ends. In the case of a charge of discrimination, records must be kept for four years after the charge is resolved, if more than seven years after termination of employment. With respect to job applicants who have not been employed, applications, resumes, and responses must be retained for one year after completion.
· Bank statements and canceled checks: These can usually be disposed of after seven years. However, if the canceled checks could be required to establish a tax base or to evidence other significant transactions, the copies must be kept indefinitely, preferably with the other documents related to the transaction in question. Website design By BotEap.comRules and regulations for funeral homes (and other businesses) Website design By BotEap.comIn addition to record retention rules, there are other laws and acts that may affect your funeral home and how you store your documents. Website design By BotEap.comGramm-Leach Bliley Act Website design By BotEap.comIf your funeral home routinely enters into retail installment contracts with their families, you are subject to the Gramm-Leach Bliley (GLB) Act as a financial institution. (If most consumers pay you by check, credit card, insurance assignment, or probate payment, your funeral home would not be considered a financial institution simply for occasionally allowing consumers to pay over time.) To comply with the GLB Law, you need: Website design By BotEap.com• Hire or designate a records retention manager to oversee the deletion of records containing nonpublic personal information.
• Store confidential records in such a way that only authorized employees can access them
• Shred or recycle customer information recorded on paper
• Erase all data by disposing of computers, floppy disks, magnetic tapes, hard drives, or any other electronic media containing customer information
• Effectively destroy hardware
• Quickly dispose of outdated customer information Website design By BotEap.comFTC red flags Website design By BotEap.comThe Red Flag Rule is an anti-fraud regulation that requires “creditors” and “financial institutions” with covered accounts to implement programs to identify, detect, and respond to warning signs or “red flags” that could indicate identity theft . Website design By BotEap.comTo further prevent the likelihood of identity theft from occurring at your funeral home, you should take the following steps to protect customer identification information: Website design By BotEap.com• Carry out the complete and secure destruction of paper documents and computer files containing customer information
• Have office computers password protected and provide for computer screens to be locked after a set period of time
• Keep offices free of paper containing customer identification information.
• Require and retain only the types of customer information that are necessary for the funeral home’s purposes. Website design By BotEap.comOccupational Safety and Health Administration: Right to Know Act Website design By BotEap.comOfficially known as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard 29 CFR 1910.1200, the Right to Know Act was designed to ensure that chemical hazards in the workplace are identified and evaluated, and that information about these hazards is communicated to both employers and employees. This transfer of information must be accomplished through a comprehensive hazard communication program that includes container labeling and other forms of warning, including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), and employee training. According to OSHA, MSDSs must be readily accessible to employees when they are in their work areas during their work shifts. Website design By BotEap.comHow document management can help Website design By BotEap.comThe Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which was adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) in 1999, ensures that electronic transactions are just as enforceable as their paper counterparts. UETA states that: “the legal effect or enforceability of a contract cannot be denied solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.” The law states that any law that requires a physical record will be met with an electronic record and that any signature requirement may be met with an electronic signature. Website design By BotEap.comTranslation: In the United States, an electronic document is considered the same as the original document. This allows business owners to shred the corresponding paper files after they have been scanned into an electronic format or into a document management system. And it leads business owners to document management systems. Website design By BotEap.comPermanent record keeping. Website design By BotEap.comUsing a document management system, your funeral home records can be stored permanently online. Once a document is scanned into the system, only the owner of the file cabinet can delete it. This will help you comply with state record retention guidelines. To comply with OSHA regulations, your staff can scan your MSDS into a document management system for immediate retrieval from any computer with an Internet connection. And, by scanning all the paper that comes into your office, you’re keeping desktops free of personal information, which is an important discovery for identity theft. Website design By BotEap.comPassword protected access. Website design By BotEap.comA document management system is much more secure than your standard filing cabinet. Your employees will need user IDs and passwords to access the system, and authorities can be set so that users can only view documents that are relevant to their jobs. This feature of most document management systems will help you comply with the GLB Act and the Red Flag Rule. Website design By BotEap.comAudit trails. Website design By BotEap.comOnce a user is in the document management system, audit trails track which documents they have scanned, viewed, edited, and even deleted. This gives you the ability to see what your employees are looking at, as well as where and when. This adds another level of security to your documents and again helps with compliance. Website design By BotEap.comAccess from anywhere. Website design By BotEap.comAn unintended benefit: In the event of an audit, planned or unplanned, users of the document management system can provide auditors with secure access to all documents stored in the system, eliminating the need for auditors to be on site and greatly speeds up the audit process. Website design By BotEap.comBy ditching paper at your funeral home, you’ll also be able to improve compliance, eliminate files and cabinets, and create a central repository for all your records. In the process, you’ll save time and money and create a better experience for your employees and customers. The only question that remains is, when can you start scanning?