Employee records a cafe has to keep, and for how long

The Fair Work Act sets how long employee records are kept. The Fair Work Regulations set what they contain. For a cafe paying casual staff by the hour, most of that list is about hours, rates and what each shift paid.

Seven years for employee records

An employer must make, and keep for 7 years, employee records of the kind prescribed by the regulations in relation to each of its employees.

A note in section 535 says that if an employer fails to comply with subsection (1), (2) or (3), "the employer may bear the burden of disproving allegations in proceedings relating to a contravention of certain civil remedy provisions". In a dispute about pay, missing records can leave you proving a negative.

An employer must not make or keep a record for the purposes of this section that the employer knows is false or misleading.

The form they must take

Regulation 3.31(1) requires "a record in a legible form and in the English language" and "a record in a form that is readily accessible to an inspector".

What goes in the records

The job itself

Regulation 3.32 requires a record that specifies:

• "the employer's name"
• "the employee's name"
• "whether the employee's employment is full-time or part-time"
• "whether the employee's employment is permanent, temporary or casual"
• "the date on which the employee's employment began"
• "the Australian Business Number (if any) of the employer"

Pay and hours

For subsection 535(1) of the Act, a kind of employee record that an employer must make and keep is a record that specifies: (a) the rate of remuneration paid to the employee; and (b) the gross and net amounts paid to the employee; and (c) any deductions made from the gross amount paid to the employee.

If the employee is a casual or irregular part-time employee who is guaranteed a rate of pay set by reference to a period of time worked, the record must set out the hours worked by the employee.

Regulation 3.33(3) covers what sits on top of the base rate. If the employee is entitled to "an incentive-based payment", "a bonus", "a loading", "a penalty rate" or "another monetary allowance or separately identifiable entitlement", then "the record must set out details of the payment, bonus, loading, rate, allowance or entitlement."

For casual staff paid by the hour, that puts two things in the record: the hours each person worked, and every penalty rate or loading paid for them.

Overtime

Where "a penalty rate or loading (however described) must be paid for overtime hours actually worked by an employee", regulation 3.34 requires a record of either "the number of overtime hours worked by the employee during each day" or "when the employee started and ceased working overtime hours".

Leave and super

Regulation 3.36(1) requires a record of "any leave that the employee takes" and "the balance (if any) of the employee's entitlement to that leave from time to time".

Where super contributions are required, regulation 3.37(1) lists "the amount of the contributions made", "the period over which the contributions were made", "the date on which each contribution was made", "the name of any fund to which a contribution was made" and "the basis on which the employer became liable to make the contribution".

Written agreements

Regulation 3.35 covers an agreement in writing to average an employee's hours: "a copy of the agreement is a kind of employee record that the employer must make and keep". For an individual flexibility arrangement, regulation 3.38 requires "a copy of the agreement" and "a copy of a notice or agreement that terminates the agreement".

When employment ends

Regulation 3.40 requires a record of whether the employment was terminated "by consent", "by notice", "summarily" or "in some other manner (specifying the manner)", and of "the name of the person who acted to terminate the employment".

When a staff member asks to see their records

For subsection 535(3) of the Act, an employer must make a copy of an employee record available for inspection and copying on request by the employee or former employee to whom the record relates.

If the records are kept where the employee works or worked, regulation 3.42(3) gives two ways to respond: "make the copy available at the premises within 3 business days after receiving the request", or "post a copy of the employee record to the employee or former employee within 14 days after receiving the request".

Correcting a mistake

An employer must correct a record that the employer is required to keep under the Act or these Regulations as soon as the employer becomes aware that it contains an error.

Regulation 3.44(3) requires the corrected record to contain "a notation of the nature of the corrected error with the correction". Changing a timesheet's hours without that note does not meet it.

Pay slips have their own obligations in section 536 of the Act, which this article does not cover. Check your award or enterprise agreement as well.

This article is general information about the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Fair Work Regulations 2009, not legal or payroll advice, and does not take account of your business's circumstances. It quotes the Act as at compilation 73 and the Regulations as at compilation 56, and is current as at 15 September 2026.