Employee records a labour officer can ask for
The employee records Kenyan law expects an employer to produce on inspection, how far back they go, and how to build an inspection-ready file.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Kenya
A labour officer arrives, or an NSSF compliance officer writes asking for records, and wants to see them within days. For many small employers in Kenya, that is when they discover that the leave book stopped being updated two managers ago, contracts are in someone's e-mail, and payslips were never printed for the casual staff.
An inspection is far less stressful when the records already exist in one place. This article lists the records Kenyan law expects, how far back each one goes, and how to assemble a file you could hand over the same day.
The section 74 record for each employee
Section 74 of the Employment Act is the centre of it. It requires every employer to keep a written record for each employee. Among other things, that record covers:
- leave taken and leave still due;
- maternity leave and sick leave;
- rest days;
- warning letters.
The point is that the record is per employee, not a general staff list. For each person, an inspector should be able to see their leave position, their absences and any disciplinary history in one place.
Thirty-six months back
Section 74 also requires the employer to let an authorised officer inspect records for the preceding thirty-six months. So the practical question is not "do we have this year's records?" but "could we produce the last three years for every employee, including people who have left?"
Former employees are where gaps usually appear. When someone leaves, their file should be closed and kept, not deleted with their e-mail account.
You can read section 74 and the surrounding record-keeping duties in the Employment Act on Kenya Law, which carries the consolidated text.
Contracts and written particulars
Section 10 of the Act deals with the terms of employment. The written particulars must be given to the employee no later than two months after the employment begins, and the employer must keep them for five years after the employment ends.
This one has teeth beyond an inspection. If the employer cannot produce the written contract or particulars in legal proceedings, the burden of proving the terms falls on the employer. A missing contract turns every disagreement about pay, hours or notice into the employer's problem to prove. For what the contract should contain, see the written employment contract.
Pay statements
Section 20 requires an employer to give each employee a written pay statement at or before each payment of wages. It must show the gross pay, each deduction and its purpose, and how the net amount is paid. The section does not apply to casual employees, piece-rate or task-rate employees, or engagements of six months or less.
Keep a copy of every statement you issue. An inspector checking deductions will compare them with the payroll records and the statutory returns.
NSSF earnings records
The NSSF Act adds its own requirement. Section 19(7) requires a registered employer to keep an up-to-date record of employees' earnings, produce it on demand to an NSSF compliance officer, and retain it for the period the NSSF Board prescribes, which may not exceed ten years.
That makes payroll history a long-lived record. Plan on keeping earnings data for longer than the three years section 74 mentions, and check the Board's current requirement.
What Achekam keeps
Achekam can carry much of this file, with some limits a Kenyan employer should know.
Leave. Payroll keeps annual, sick, family responsibility and unpaid leave with monthly accrual. A line manager approves their own team's leave, and nobody approves their own. Two limits matter for section 74: there is no maternity, parental or study leave type, and new leave types cannot be added; and leave days are counted against South African public holidays, with built-in entitlements following South African law, even for a Kenyan employer. Keep maternity leave and any Kenyan-specific entitlements in a separate record until that changes.
Payslips. Payslips are PDFs with the business's logo and details, downloaded or e-mailed one per person. An employer setting sends them automatically when a run is approved, with a delivery log showing what was sent.
Reports. Payroll reports show cost, headcount and staff movements by month and by department, which helps when an officer asks who was employed in a given period.
Documents. Contracts, signed particulars and warning letters can go in Document Centre, a folder-based store where the business uploads files or whole folders, previews, renames, moves, tags, archives and searches them. A new version keeps the earlier ones, so an amended contract does not overwrite the original.
An inspection-ready file
Set up one folder per employee, current and former, with the same structure every time:
- Contract and written particulars, signed and dated, with any amendments.
- Leave record, including maternity and sick leave and rest days, for at least the last thirty-six months.
- Warning letters and disciplinary notes.
- Pay statements, one per payment, or the payroll export for the period.
- Statutory numbers: KRA PIN, NSSF and SHIF details.
- Exit documents for anyone who has left, with the date the five-year clock on their particulars started.
Then keep a one-page index at the top of the employer file listing where each record type lives and who looks after it. For how long each type of record should be kept overall, our retention schedule sets out the periods side by side. Because these files are full of personal information, handle them in line with protecting employees' personal data.
Choose one former employee at random and try to produce their full file. Whatever you cannot find in an hour is what to fix first.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
