The appropriate destruction of business records is an important responsibility. All staff must consult Retention Schedules before destroying any college business records.
- Nothing listed on a Departmental Retention Schedule (Form R1) can be destroyed without a fully approved Certificate of Destruction (Form R2). [For a detailed description of the Certificate of Destruction, please see Records Management Forms]
- No records shall be destroyed if they pertain to any pending legal case, claim, or action.
- Any changes to a signed Certificate of Destruction must be initialed by the Records Manager.
Destruction of Sinclair’s business records must follow this procedure to ensure that no State or Federal laws or statues are violated:
1. Sinclair has two types of Retention Schedules - the College’s General Schedule and the individual Retention Schedules (R1) of each office of the College.
2. The office staff consults both the General Schedule and their own office Retention Schedule to make certain that the records in question have reached the proper destruction date.
3. The staff then prepares a Certificate of Records Destruction (Form R2) listing all records to be destroyed.
4. The Certificate must have all the required signatures before any records are destroyed.
5. All information must be filled in except the date of destruction, which must be dated after the Records Manager’s signature.
6. When the Records Manager has signed and returned the Certificate, the department may destroy the records listed on the Certificate.
7. The office staff must fill in the date of destruction and amount of material destroyed (eg. 1 Box, 2 Folders).
8. The office staff should make a copy of the completed form for their records and must send the original Certificate back to the Records Manager.
9. Any other changes to the signed Certificate must be initialed by the Records Manager.
For information email robert.smith4227@sinclair.edu or call 937-512-2319.
