Preparation to Transfer Records: What to do with the records of departing employees

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The responsibilities

All employees at FAA are responsible for the federal records in their custody. This responsibility applies as much to departing employees who separate or transfer from FAA or transfer within FAA as it does to all other employees.

The rules

FAA's records are important. They are required by law to adequately and properly document the Agency's organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions. The records must be maintained in accordance with federal records management regulations and the Agency's records management policies. They may be preserved or disposed of only by following the instructions in FAA's Records Schedules.

What to do

Departing employees should identify and transfer all documentary materials, including paper and electronic federal records, in their personal workspace. Locations of electronic documents in the workspace include the computer hard drive, network drives (user and share), e-mail (in boxes, sent boxes, and folders), and removable media such as diskettes and CDs.

Simply put, "identify and transfer all documentary materials" means figure out what you've got and put it where it belongs. For example, do you have federal records that need to be filed in your organization's recordkeeping system? Do you have nonrecords that may be discarded? If you leave anything behind in your workspace, be sure an authorized person has accepted responsibility for it and knows what to do with it.

Who does what

Both the departing employee and the employee's Records Contact have a role. The scenario below briefly outlines those roles. The departing employee's supervisor also may be involved if custody of the employee's records is turned over to the supervisor.

A smooth transition

Identifying and transferring documentary materials, including federal records, helps to ensure that FAA's records make a smooth transition to their next custodian.

Scenario

• Regina Conway is the Records Contact for Office X.
• Dexter Epstein is a Departing Employee from Office X.