Human Resource Blog

Employee Records

Can an outside company doing an audit request a copy of our employee files?

Can they ask for your employee files? Yes, they can ask for anything they want, including a million dollars in unmarked bills and Superbowl tickets. However, whether or not you have to comply is a different matter.

It would help to answer this question if we knew who the outside company was and why they were performing the audit.

Many companies hire an outside accounting firm to audit company records, to make sure that the employer is in compliance with state and federal laws, and company policy. In that case, what records the auditors can and cannot examine are determined in advance.

If a merger or buyout is being considered, examining employee records would be a part of due diligence. Obviously, state and federal regulatory agencies like the Department of Labor have the right to examine your records.

But anyone just walking in off the street does not have the right to examine your payroll records or employee files.

In several states including Texas, identity theft laws make it illegal for the employer to share the employees social security number with anyone outside the company. In those states, you would have to make copies of the files and black out the social security number.