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Electronic HR Documents: Which Documents No Longer Need to Be Duplicated on Paper
A full-fledged electronic document must be created in electronic form, contain mandatory details, be signed with a proper electronic signature, and be stored in such a way that its integrity can be verified. The law directly defines an electronic document as a document in which information is recorded in the form of electronic data, including mandatory details.
Electronic document management (EDM) covers the creation, processing, transmission, receipt, storage, use, and destruction of such documents. For an HR specialist, the key question is: which documents can be maintained without a paper duplicate.
The general rule is – if an HR document is created specifically as an electronic one, signed with an advanced or qualified electronic signature (QES), transmitted through an agreed channel, and stored in compliance with legal requirements, a separate paper “original” is not needed.
Employees can be familiarized with orders, instructions, notifications, and other documents regarding their rights and obligations through electronic means of communication specified in the employment contract, with the application of an advanced or qualified electronic signature. In practice, employee applications, memos, internal approvals, notifications, familiarization letters, HR orders, schedules, timesheets, and other documents can be executed in electronic form, provided there is no special requirement for a paper form for them and the enterprise has properly regulated the EDM procedure.
For documents with temporary storage up to 10 years inclusive, the creation of a paper form is not mandatory. At the same time, the passing of the same document simultaneously in electronic and paper form is not allowed, so an HR specialist should not keep “double bookkeeping of documents” if the electronic process is chosen.
During martial law, legislation additionally simplifies communication. The parties to the employment contract may agree on alternative ways of creating, forwarding, and storing orders, notifications, and other employment-related documents, as well as on any other accessible method of electronic communication. For territories of active or possible hostilities, the employer independently determines the procedure for HR record keeping and archival storage, but is obliged to ensure reliable accounting of work performed and labor costs.
To make electronic HR document management secure, the employer should approve an internal regulation or EDM policy.
It should define the list of electronic documents, types of electronic signatures, communication channels, the procedure for approval, signing, storage, backup copying, access, and signature verification.
The law requires storing electronic documents in a form that allows verifying their integrity, restoring the document in its original format, and establishing data about its dispatch or receipt.
At the same time, not all documents can be safely “digitized and paper forgotten.” Documents of permanent and long-term storage over 10 years in the electronic document management system must be created in two forms – paper and electronic. Also stored in paper form are documents originally created on paper, as well as logbooks (for example, on occupational safety), if a special normative act directly provides for their physical maintenance, signing, numbering, lacing, or other features of a paper form.
The paper labor book (work record book) remains separate. Accounting for labor activity is conducted in electronic form in the register of insured persons, but an employee hired for the first time has the right to demand the issuance of a paper labor book. Also, the employer, at the request of the employee, is obliged to make entries in the paper labor book about hiring, transfer, dismissal, incentives, and awards.
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