Records Retention

Consult Your Agency's Records Management Staff. It is important to save your documents, but before saving or removing any documentation, check with your agency's records management staff to make sure you follow their rules.

• Protect and preserve your records
• Follow federal guidelines
• Avoid accidental policy violations

Organize Your Emails. Set up a folder in your work email inbox labeled "Reasonable Accommodation" to store all related emails.

• Keep everything in one place
• Track approvals and communications
• Make finding documentation easier when needed

Back Up Important Documents. If your agency’s rules allow it, download important emails and save them as PDFs on your agency-approved storage system. In addition to reasonable accommodation-related documents, save personnel, financial, and performance-related documentation (for instance, all of your Standard Form 50s (SF-50s) — notification of personnel action form, documents in your electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), and all performance evaluations or eOPF files).

If authorized by your agency, consider saving copies on encrypted devices for future personal reference.

You may also be allowed to print those emails and keep them in a folder.

Email Forwarding. Some agencies allow employees to forward copies of emails related to their reasonable accommodations to their personal accounts. Check to make sure this is allowed with your agency. If it is, forward important emails such as those that discuss your reasonable accommodations and job duties.

DIG-DE Federal Employee Toolkit-Records Retention