Ohio Admin. Code 3359-11-11.1
In today's university environment, employees create and maintain an increasing portion of their records using computers. Electronic records must be managed alongside traditional records to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations and to preserve institutional history.
The purpose of this rule is to inform university employees and departmental management of the requirements and responsibilities for management and disposition of electronic records.
This electronic records retention rule applies to all employees of the university and applies to all electronic records that are made or received in the transaction of university or public business. All electronic records created at the university of Akron are governed by and subject to this rule.
Maintenance and disposal of electronic records, as determined by the content, is the responsibility of the legal custodian and must be in accordance with guidelines established by the university and also in compliance with state and university approved records retention and disposition schedules.
The department head of an office having public records is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy and with the Ohio public records law. When an employee leaves a department or the university, the department head is responsible for designating a new custodian and ensuring that any public records in the separating employee's possession are properly transferred to the new custodian. The department head is responsible for contacting information technology services to arrange for the transfer of the electronic records to the new custodian before the accounts are scheduled to be deleted.
Work-related e-mail is a university record, and must be treated as such. Each e-mail user must take responsibility for sorting out personal messages from work-related messages and retaining university records as directed in official records retention and disposition schedules. E-mail that does not meet the definition of a public record, e.g., personal e-mail, or junk e-mail, should be deleted from the system.
University e-mail servers are not intended for long-term record retention. E-mail messages and any associated attachment(s) with retention periods greater than three years are to be printed and filed in similar fashion to paper records. It is important to note that the e-mail message should be kept with the attachment(s). The printed copy of the e-mail must contain the following header information:
When e-mail is used as a transport mechanism for other record types, it is possible, based on the content, for the retention and disposition periods of the e-mail and the transported record(s) to differ. In this case, the longest retention period shall apply.
The university does not support the use of instant messaging (IM) for university business.
Information technology services performs backups on a regular schedule of the e-mail and electronic files stored on central servers for disaster recovery. These backups are to be used for system restoration purposes only. The IT system administrator is not the legal custodian of messages or records which may be included in such backups.
When litigation against the university or its employees is filed or threatened, the law imposes a duty upon the university to preserve all documents and records that pertain to the issues. As soon as the office of general counsel becomes aware of pending or threatened litigation, a litigation hold directive will be issued to the legal custodians. The litigation hold directive overrides any records retention schedule that may have otherwise called for the transfer, disposal or destruction of the relevant documents, until the hold has been cleared by the office of general counsel. E-mail and computer accounts of separated employees that have been placed on a litigation hold by the office of general counsel will be maintained by information technology services until the hold is released.
No employee, who has been notified by the office of general counsel of a litigation hold, may alter or delete an electronic record that falls within the scope of that hold. Violation of the hold may subject the individual to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal, as well as personal liability for civil and/or criminal sanctions by the courts or law enforcement agencies.
All other (non-electronic) records shall continue to be managed pursuant to rule 3359-11-11 of the administrative code.
Replaces: 3359-11- 11.1
Ohio Admin. Code 3359-11-11.1
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3359.01
Rule Amplifies: 3359.01
Prior Effective Dates: 11/06/06