The Office of the Public Record Administrator requires that official public records meet minimum retention requirements prior to destruction, per the Disposition of Public Records Policy. If you have the official “record copy“, then you’ll need to determine how long you are required to keep a particular type of record by looking it up in the following state general retention schedules.

 

State Agency specific schedules may also be helpful if departments have records that do not appear in the general schedules.  If, after consulting both the general and specific schedules, you cannot find a record series that describes records in your custody, please contact your RMLO to discuss the need for the development of a new Agency specific or state general schedule.  If you have custody of the official copy of state records that do not have an existing schedule, you may not destroy them until such a schedule is developed and approved by the Office of the Public Record Administrator.

 

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

 

In some cases, UConn has extended minimum retention requirements that surpass the state’s prescribed retention schedules. Notably, financial records that have a retention period on the state schedule of “3 years, or until audited, whichever is later” should be considered to have a University requirement of “7 years, or until audited, whichever is later,” from the date of the record, per request of the University Controller.

After both the state and any additional University retention periods are met, you must seek and receive destruction approval (see section on Destruction Authorization). Recall that the minimum retention and authorization requirements only apply to the official record copy. Convenience copies may generally be destroyed when no longer administratively valuable.  Reach out for help in any stage of the process.

As stated on the retention schedules, no records may be destroyed if there are pending or active Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests; litigations; investigations; audits; or other cases, claims, or actions [OPRA, 2014].