Records Retention and Disposition Standard

  1. INTRODUCTION

    In keeping with sound business practices and in support of its mission, the University creates or receives, uses, and retains operational, legal, and fiscal records of its activities.  The retention of these records provides historical or vital value for the University; however, not all records need to be retained for the same period of time.  The goal is to retain records long enough to satisfy internal and external requirements, but not so long as to incur unnecessary storage and maintenance costs or the burden of protecting the records from unauthorized access.

  2. SCOPE

    This Standard applies to all records, regardless of medium that are collected, generated, and/or maintained by California State University, Long Beach except where superseded by grant, contract, or federal copyright law and to all employees of CSULB and CSULB auxiliary organizations.

  3. RECORD RETENTION

    The CSU, under Executive Order 1031, provides for the implementation of the California State University (CSU) Systemwide Records/Information Retention Schedules.  It is issued under the authority of Section II of the Standing Orders of the Board of Trustees, related policies adopted by the Board of Trustees, and Education Code section 89043.  The objective of this executive order is to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements while implementing appropriate operational best practices.

    The Campus Information Security Officer must ensure that appropriate campus department(s) implements the records retention and disposition schedules for that area, including designating official campus custodian(s) for each type of record.  Records Custodians are responsible for controlling the administration of records in all media forms and for valuing such records in accordance with retention authority requirements.  The Information Security Officer has identified Records Custodians who are subject matter experts, and can answer questions related to the retention and disposition schedule for their record series. Each of the schedules, below, identify the Record Custodian assigned to the university record.

    The campus may modify the CSU Records Retention and Disposition Schedules, as needed, by incorporating records unique to the campus.  The CSU Schedules may not be otherwise abridged or altered.  Each series or schedule will be periodically reviewed and updates will be posted to the Information Security Compliance and Management website.  If a record has not been identified on the Retention and Disposition Schedule, please contact Information Security Management and Compliance.

    Information concerning campus specific records shall be provided to the Campus Information Security Officer and shall include the record title and the records series to which the record shall be added (e.g., University Police, Personnel/Payroll).  Information shall also include the identification of the custodian of record, record value, retention source authority, and the retention period. Records shall be retained for the minimum time periods indicated in the CSULB Records Retention and Disposition Schedules.  Retention periods are counted from the date of creation of the record, unless other instructions (e.g., “3 years from termination”) are noted in the records retention schedule

  4. RECORDS DISPOSITION

    Disposition of records shall be conducted in a timely manner following the retention period and based on their information classification level, as further outlined in the CSULB Information Classification Standard.

    Failure to adhere to disposition schedules can lead to the unnecessary expenditure of resources to store, maintain, search for, and produce records. Records not disposed of at the end of their retention period remain subject to records requests under statute or legal proceedings.

    Determining Disposition Date

    Retention periods are counted from the date of creation of the record, unless other instructions (e.g., “3 years from termination”) are noted in the Records Retention Schedule.  Disposition would normally occur following the end of the month of year that marks the end of the retention period; thus, disposition of a record for which the retention period ends on July 10 would take place as soon after July 31 as practicable.

    Cautions Regarding Disposition

    There may be conditions under which records destruction must be deferred even if they have reached or exceeded the end of their retention period. These conditions include:
    1. External requirements under state and federal laws or regulation or when grants or contracts retention periods override University retention periods;
    2. Records that have been requested pursuant to statute or legal proceedings (e.g., California Public Records Act, Subpoena);
    3. Records that have not been requested but are deemed likely to be requested pursuant to statute or legal proceedings including potential litigation must be retained following notification by the campus Risk Manager.
    4. Records related to an ongoing investigation must not be disposed of without prior consultation with campus counsel.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Information Security
Email: iso@csulb.edu
Phone: 562.985.4862