Employee Records Nepali Employers Should Keep

When a labour officer, auditor or former employee asks for a record, the company that can produce it in ten minutes is in a very different position from the one that spends a week searching. This article lists the employee records a Nepali employer should keep and how to organise them. It is about record keeping, not legal advice: the exact obligations come from the Labour Act, its regulations, tax law and your contracts, so confirm them with a qualified lawyer, the labour office or your accountant.

Why records protect you

Disputes about unpaid wages, overtime, leave, termination or experience letters usually turn on paper. If you can show the appointment letter, the signed attendance, the payslips and the warning notices, the discussion is short and factual. If you cannot, memory and goodwill decide. Good records are the cheapest protection a small company can buy.

The core employee file

• Application, CV and interview notes
• Citizenship certificate copy and passport photograph
• Educational certificates and experience letters
• Appointment letter and any amendments
• Probation review and confirmation letter
• Job description and designation history
• PAN, bank account, provident fund and tax details
• Emergency contact
• Signed acknowledgement of the staff handbook or code of conduct

Records created during employment

Record	Why keep it
Attendance and overtime	Evidence of days worked and hours paid
Leave applications and approvals	Balance disputes and encashment
Payslips and salary sheets	Proof of payment and deductions
Increment and promotion letters	Salary history
Appraisals	Basis for promotion or performance action
Warnings and explanations	Fair process if employment ends
Training records	Skills and compliance
Assets issued	Return at exit

Records at exit

When an employee leaves, keep the resignation or termination letter, clearance checklist, return of assets, final settlement calculation and a signed receipt. Record the reason and the last working date in the profile. Issue the experience letter from a template so that facts match the file.

How long to keep them

Retention periods are set by law and by tax and audit practice, and they differ by record type. Do not guess. Ask your accountant and lawyer for a retention table and write it into your HR policy. Where the law is silent, a sensible policy is to keep the core file for several years after exit and destroy sensitive copies safely afterwards.

Privacy and access

Employee files hold identity numbers, bank details and sometimes medical information. Treat them like cash. Limit access, avoid sharing scans through casual group chats, and keep a record of who opened what. Paper files should be in a locked cabinet; digital files need passwords and backups. If an HR clerk leaves, change access immediately.

Organising the files

Use a consistent employee code and naming system, for example the code, then document type, then date. Group documents by category. Mark documents that expire, such as a professional licence or work permit for a foreign employee, and set a reminder 30 and 7 days ahead. In a spreadsheet this means a colour code that someone must remember to check. In software it is an automatic reminder list.

What software adds

HR management software keeps the profile, documents, leave, appraisals and letters under one employee code. Managers see only their own team, and every view or change can be logged. Reports such as "contracts ending this quarter" or "documents missing from profiles" become one click. It pairs with payroll software so payslips and salary history are tied to the same record.

Software does not make you compliant on its own. It makes it easier to be organised, and an organised company finds it easier to follow the rules it has agreed to follow.

Audit yourself in one hour

Pick five employees at random and check whether each file contains the appointment letter, citizenship copy, bank and PAN details, current contract, last appraisal and signed handbook acknowledgement. Count how many are complete. If the answer is fewer than four out of five, you have found your next project.

Handling requests from staff and officers

Decide in advance who may release records and in what form. A former employee asking for a salary certificate should receive a document generated from the file, signed by an authorised person. A labour officer or auditor should be handled by a named senior person who provides copies, keeps a note of what was shared and when. Never hand over the master file, only copies. A consistent routine protects both the company and the employee whose data is being shared.

Common gaps we see

• Appointment letters that were never signed by the employee
• No record of the policy version the employee agreed to
• Warnings given verbally with nothing in the file
• Overtime paid in cash with no approval record
• Bank details that were changed without written confirmation

Next step

Make a one-page checklist of mandatory documents for new joiners and use it from the next hire. If you want to see how profiles, expiry reminders and letters work in practice, send us a WhatsApp message and we will arrange a demo using your own document list.

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