Employee Records Requirements in Australia (2026): What to Keep, for How Long, and Who Can See It

Employee records are the evidence behind every pay run. When an employee, the Fair Work Ombudsman or a court asks whether someone was paid correctly, your records are the first thing they look at — and if the records are missing, the law can assume the employee is right. This guide explains employee records requirements in Australia for 2026: the 7-year rule, exactly which time and wages records the Fair Work Regulations require, how and when to give employees access, how to fix errors, what happens on a business sale, the penalties, and how tax, super and privacy rules overlap.

Quick answer

Under section 535 of the Fair Work Act, every national system employer must make and keep time and wages records for 7 years for each employee. Records must be legible, in English and readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector, and they must cover the employee's details, pay, hours (for overtime, casuals and irregular part-timers), leave, super and how employment ended. Current and former employees can ask for a copy, which you must provide within 3 business days at the workplace or by post within 14 days.

• Paper or electronic is fine — accessibility and accuracy are what count

• Correct errors as soon as you find them, with a note of what changed

• Missing records can reverse the burden of proof in an underpayment claim

• Infringement notices of A$2,184 (individual) or A$10,920 (company) per breach

• Tax records: 5 years; super contribution records are part of the Fair Work set

Who the record-keeping rules apply to

The Fair Work record-keeping rules apply to every national system employer: companies, sole traders, partnerships and trusts that employ staff in the national workplace relations system, which covers most private sector employment in Australia. Size doesn't matter. A café with one casual has the same core obligations as a retailer with 500 staff, although some details — such as hours records for salaried staff — depend on the award.

The rules cover all employees: full-time, part-time, casual, fixed-term, juniors and apprentices. They don't cover genuine independent contractors, although you'll still need records of payments to contractors for tax purposes, and if a contractor is really an employee the record-keeping obligations apply in full. Our casual employees guide explains the difference between casual employees and contractors.

Section 535 has two parts that are easy to overlook. You must make the records — not just keep whatever happens to exist — and you must not make or keep a record you know is false or misleading in a material way. A roster that doesn't reflect the hours actually worked, or a timesheet adjusted to hide overtime, breaches the second rule even if a record technically exists.

The 7-year rule

Section 535(1) says an employer must "make, and keep for 7 years" the records prescribed by the regulations. The Fair Work Ombudsman puts it plainly: time and wages records have to be kept for seven years.

The simplest compliant approach is to keep each employee's whole file for seven years after their employment ends. That way every record — even one made on their first day — is covered, and you won't need to purge files line by line. It also covers the period for claims: under section 544, an application to court about a contravention must be made within six years of it.

The same records often serve other laws with different periods. Tax law generally requires records to be kept for 5 years after they're prepared or the transaction is completed. State and territory workers compensation and long service leave laws can set their own rules. Keeping everything for seven years after employment ends is the practical way to satisfy them all.

Record-keeping numbers (2026)

7 years

Keep time and wages records

Fair Work Act s 535

3 business days

Make a copy available at the workplace

Reg 3.42(3)(a)

14 days

Or post a copy to the employee

Reg 3.42(3)(b)

1 working day

Give a pay slip after paying wages

Fair Work Act s 536

What records you must keep

Regulations 3.32 to 3.41 of the Fair Work Regulations list the records. The Fair Work Ombudsman's summary groups them the same way. Think of them as a checklist for each employee file.

A few of these deserve more detail.

Hours. The law requires hours records only for some employees, but the Fair Work Ombudsman recommends keeping hours for everyone, including salaried staff and pieceworkers. Many awards with annualised wage clauses require start and finish times and unpaid breaks for salaried employees, so you can reconcile the salary against award entitlements. Without hours, you can't prove a salary covered penalty rates and overtime — see our award wages guide.

Leave. Record each period of leave taken and the running balance for each type. Balances must be accurate "from time to time", which in practice means updated each pay cycle. Under many awards, an agreement to take annual leave in advance must also be kept.

Super. Under Payday Super, which started on 1 July 2026, contributions are tied to individual paydays. Your records should let you show, for each payday, how much super was due, when it was paid and when the fund received it. If you relied on an ATO exceptional circumstances determination for extra time, keep records showing it covered you. The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed on 1 July 2026, so make sure your own records hold your past payment history. Our Payday Super guide explains the deadlines.

Form: paper, software and where records are kept

Regulation 3.31 requires records to be in a legible form, in English, and readily accessible to an inspector. Nothing requires paper. Payroll software, time-and-attendance apps and cloud HR systems all comply if you can produce the records quickly.

The weak points are usually practical. Records stored in a former payroll provider's system you no longer pay for aren't readily accessible. Timesheets in a manager's personal email aren't either. When you change systems, export the full history — not just current balances — and store it somewhere you control. If the business closes, someone must still hold the records for the rest of the seven years.

Pay slips are a separate obligation under section 536. You must give each employee a pay slip within 1 working day of paying them, with the information prescribed by regulation 3.46 — and pay slips must not reveal paid family and domestic violence leave. Our payslip requirements guide covers the content. Keep copies with your time and wages records.

Employee access requests

Employees have a right to see their records, and so do former employees. Regulation 3.42 says that, on request, you must make a copy of the employee record available to the employee or former employee for inspection and copying, in a legible form. The timing depends on where the record is kept.

• Kept at the premises where the person works or worked: make the copy available there within 3 business days of the request, or post it within 14 days.
• Kept somewhere else: make the copy available at the premises or post it as soon as practicable.

Regulation 3.43 adds two more rights. If asked, you must tell the employee or former employee where their records are kept. And they may interview you or your representative during ordinary working hours about a record you've made or will make.

There's no fee and no requirement for the request to be in a particular form. A text or email is enough. The Fair Work Ombudsman says only the employer, payroll staff, the employee and authorised people such as an accountant should access employee records, so verify a former employee's identity before sending records to a new address.

Handling a request for records

1. 1

   Log the date of the request

   The 3-business-day and 14-day clocks start when you receive it, whether by email, text or in person.

2. 2

   Confirm identity

   Check you're dealing with the employee or former employee, especially before posting to a new address.

3. 3

   Gather the full record

   Include pay, hours, leave, super and termination records — not just pay slips.

4. 4

   Provide a legible copy

   Make it available at the workplace within 3 business days or post it within 14 days. Email is common if the employee agrees.

5. 5

   Answer follow-up questions

   Tell them where records are kept if asked, and allow an interview during ordinary hours.

Fair Work Inspectors and the burden of proof

Fair Work Inspectors can inspect and copy employee records and require them to be produced, as part of investigating a complaint or an audit. The records must be readily accessible for exactly this reason.

The bigger consequence of poor records is in court. Under section 557C, if an employer was required to make, keep or give access to a record, or give a pay slip, and failed to do so, the employer bears the burden of disproving an employee's allegation about that matter in proceedings about underpayment of wages, award or agreement breaches and other listed contraventions. The only escape is a reasonable excuse for the failure. So if a former employee says they worked 50 hours a week and you have no time records, you must prove they didn't — which is very hard without records.

This is also why intentional record-keeping failures are dangerous after 1 January 2025. Intentionally underpaying wages is now a criminal offence under section 327A of the Fair Work Act, and false records are often how underpayments are hidden.

Correcting a record

Mistakes happen, and the regulations allow for them — as long as you handle them openly. Regulation 3.44 requires you to:

• correct a record as soon as you become aware it contains an error;
• add a notation explaining the nature of the error with the correction; and
• not alter a record in any other way, or let anyone else alter it, except as the law permits.

In software, that means using adjustment entries and audit trails rather than overwriting history. On paper, it means striking through, writing the correct entry, and initialling and dating the change with a short reason. A record that has been changed silently looks like concealment even when the change was innocent.

When a business is sold: transfer of business

If you sell your business and employees move to the buyer, regulation 3.41 sets out a handover. Where there's a transfer of business under section 311 of the Fair Work Act:

• the old employer must transfer each employee record for a transferring employee to the new employer;
• if an employee joins the new employer after the transfer date, the new employer must ask the old employer for the records, and the old employer must provide them; and
• the new employer must keep the transferred records as if it had made them.

The Fair Work Ombudsman notes the new employer must ask for records of transferring employees who start within three months of the sale. Build this into the sale contract, along with who is responsible for any underpayments discovered later. Buyers should treat incomplete records as a warning sign during due diligence.

Penalties for record-keeping breaches

Most record-keeping obligations are civil remedy provisions. Enforcement usually follows a ladder.

An infringement notice can be issued for each breach, so missing records for several employees across several pay periods can add up quickly. Courts can also order back pay with interest, and under section 550 anyone involved in a contravention — a director, manager, adviser or payroll provider — can be treated as having contravened it personally.

How other laws overlap

Fair Work rules aren't the only record-keeping obligations an employer has.

Tax. The ATO requires records that explain your income and expenses, including wages, PAYG withholding, TFN declarations and super, generally for 5 years. Single Touch Payroll reports send much of this data to the ATO, but they don't replace your own records. See our Single Touch Payroll guide.

Privacy. For private sector employers, handling an employee record is usually exempt from the Privacy Act when it's directly related to a current or former employment relationship. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner confirms an employee can't use the Privacy Act to get access to a private sector employee record — they use the Fair Work rules instead. The exemption is narrow: it doesn't cover job applicants who weren't hired, disclosures unrelated to the employment, or tax file number information, which is protected separately. Keep health information such as medical certificates and family and domestic violence evidence confidential and separate from general payroll files.

State laws. Workers compensation, payroll tax and long service leave laws in each state and territory have their own record rules. Long service leave records in particular can matter decades later, so keep service history permanently if you can.

Worked examples

1. A former employee asks for records. Aisha left a Brisbane café in March 2026. On Monday 12 October she emails asking for her pay and hours records. The records are kept on the café's premises in its payroll system. The owner must make a copy available at the café by Thursday 15 October (three business days) or post it by Monday 26 October (14 days). Emailing a PDF the same week, if Aisha agrees, is the easiest way to comply.

2. Missing hours records. A casual kitchen hand claims she regularly worked 45 hours a week but was paid for 38. The restaurant kept no timesheets — only weekly pay totals. Because casual hours records are required, section 557C puts the burden on the restaurant to disprove her claim. If she is believed, the shortfall at A$33.05 an hour (casual Level 1 hospitality) is 7 × A$33.05 = A$231.35 a week. Over 40 weeks, that's A$9,254 in back pay, plus super, before any penalty.

3. Fixing an error properly. A payroll officer discovers that a part-timer's annual leave balance was overstated by 7.6 hours after a system import. She corrects the balance with an adjustment entry noting "import error — duplicate leave accrual 14 Sept 2026" and tells the employee. That complies with regulation 3.44. Deleting the history and re-keying the balance would not.

4. Infringement notices add up. An inspector finds a small company didn't record overtime hours for four employees across six pay periods. If each failure is treated as a separate breach, the infringement notices could reach 24 × A$10,920 — far more than the cost of a rostering app.

Employee records checklist

0/10

• General details: names, ABN, start date, full-time/part-time, permanent/temporary/casual
• Pay rate, gross and net pay, deductions, loadings, penalties and allowances
• Hours for casuals and irregular part-timers; overtime hours each day
• Leave taken and balances; cash-out agreements
• Super: amount, period, date paid, fund and choice record
• IFAs, averaging agreements and any guarantee of annual earnings
• How and by whom employment ended
• Corrections made promptly with a notation
• Copies available within 3 business days or posted within 14 days
• Everything kept for 7 years after employment ends, in a system you control

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Common record-keeping mistakes

• Keeping pay slips but not hours. Pay slips don't show start and finish times or overtime by day.
• Losing records when changing software. Export full histories before closing an old payroll account.
• Overwriting errors. Corrections need a notation, not a silent edit.
• Ignoring former employees' requests. The access right continues after employment ends.
• No record of how employment ended. Record whether it was resignation, notice, summary dismissal or agreement, and who made the decision.
• Missing super details. Record the fund chosen, the date of the choice and each payday's contribution.
• Mixing health and FDV information with general files. Keep sensitive documents confidential and access-restricted.

Official links

• Record-keepingFair Work Ombudsman — records list, access and templates
• Fair Work Regulations 2009Regulations 3.31–3.44 (records) and 3.45–3.48 (pay slips)
• Fair Work Act 2009Sections 535, 536 and 557C
• Your employee recordOAIC — Privacy Act employee records exemption
• Payment deadlines for Payday SuperATO — super timing your records must evidence

What to do next

Pick one employee file and test it against the checklist above: could you hand a complete, legible copy to that person within three business days? If not, fix the gaps now — starting with hours records, which cause the most trouble in disputes. Then make sure your payroll produces compliant pay slips and that super for each payday meets the Payday Super deadlines.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How long do employers have to keep employee records in Australia?

Section 535 of the Fair Work Act requires employers to make and keep time and wages records for 7 years. Tax records generally need to be kept for 5 years under tax law, and other laws such as workers compensation and long service leave legislation can set their own periods. Many employers keep each employee's whole file for seven years after employment ends, which covers every record.

Can a former employee ask for their employment records?

Yes. Under regulation 3.42 of the Fair Work Regulations, an employer must give a current or former employee a copy of their employee record for inspection and copying on request. If the record is kept where the person worked, the employer must make it available there within 3 business days or post it within 14 days. If it's kept elsewhere, it must be provided as soon as practicable.

What records does Fair Work require employers to keep?

The Fair Work Regulations list them: employer and employee names, the employer's ABN, start date, whether the job is full-time or part-time and permanent, temporary or casual; pay rates, gross and net pay and deductions; loadings, penalties and allowances; hours for casuals and irregular part-timers; overtime hours; leave taken and balances; super contributions; individual flexibility arrangements; and how employment ended.

What is the penalty for not keeping employee records?

Fair Work Inspectors can issue infringement notices of A$2,184 per breach for an individual or A$10,920 for a company. In court, the maximum civil penalty per contravention is A$21,840 for an individual, A$109,200 for a small business company and A$546,000 for a larger company, with higher amounts for serious contraventions. Missing records can also shift the burden of proof onto you.

Can employee records be kept electronically?

Yes. The regulations require records to be legible, in English and readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector — they don't require paper. Payroll and time-and-attendance software is fine as long as you can produce the records quickly, they can't be altered without a trail, and you can still access them after changing systems or closing the business.

Does the Privacy Act apply to employee records?

For private sector employers, the Privacy Act's employee records exemption usually covers handling an employee record when it's directly related to a current or former employment relationship. So an employee can't use the Privacy Act to get access — but they can use the Fair Work access rules. The exemption doesn't cover job applicants who weren't hired, and tax file number rules still apply.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 13 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Fair Work Regulations 2009 — regulations 3.31 to 3.44 (compilation F2026C00996) — Federal Register of Legislation · accessed 13 October 2026
2. 2.Fair Work Act 2009 — sections 535, 536 and 557C (compilation C2026C00355) — Federal Register of Legislation · accessed 13 October 2026
3. 3.Record-keeping — Fair Work Ombudsman · accessed 13 October 2026
4. 4.Your employee record — Office of the Australian Information Commissioner · accessed 13 October 2026
5. 5.Payment deadlines for Payday Super — Australian Taxation Office · accessed 13 October 2026
6. 6.The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is closing — Australian Taxation Office · accessed 13 October 2026