Before leaving, save pay slips, attendance records, the labor contract, social insurance records, and chat logs

In dismissal or wage-deduction disputes the employer must prove its case, but for overtime you must prove first, and employers only have to keep wage records for two years. Once you hand back the computer and accounts, you cannot get these materials back. With pay slips, attendance, social insurance records, and original chat logs in hand, you have something to use when the employer denies liability.

Cost

No cost. About half an hour to archive materials. The hard part is remembering before you walk out.

Benefit

Once you return the computer and accounts, these materials are gone for good. Labor disputes follow “who asserts must prove”: what you claim, you must prove. Where evidence is in the employer’s hands, the employer must produce it; failure to do so carries adverse consequences for the employer. In arbitration, if you cannot obtain employer-held materials, the tribunal may order the employer to submit them within a set time. For dismissal, termination, contract cancellation, wage reduction, and calculation of length of service, the employer bears the burden of proof. Overtime is different: you must first prove you worked overtime. If you show overtime records are with the employer and it will not produce them, adverse consequences shift to the employer. The employer is only required to keep wage payment records for at least two years. When paying wages, the employer must give you a personal wage breakdown. Without a written contract, wage payment records, social insurance payment records, and a work ID can all prove an employment relationship. Employment registration forms, attendance records, and testimony of other employees can also be used. Chat logs count as electronic data and can be evidence. Submit originals; printouts from original records still count as originals. In one Shanghai procuratorate case, a worker sought ten years of minimum-wage shortfalls. First- and second-instance courts recognized only the last two years before resignation. The courts held the employer need keep only two years of records, so the worker had to prove the prior eight years. He had ten years of pay slips and bank statements, but the employer disputed authenticity of the slips. In August 2024 he applied for procuratorial supervision. After the procuratorate protested, the employer paid 19000 yuan (1.9万) in a mediated settlement. He sued when the company cleared staff in 2021; by the supervision application about three years had passed (nationwide)

Notes

Save only your own employment-related materials. Do not take company source code, client lists, or technical documents—risks of taking them are in Section 11. For chat logs, do not rely on screenshots alone; keep originals on the phone and do not delete. Best to save pay slips and bank statements every month; if you sue years after leaving, the employer is not required to keep records from more than two years ago. That Shanghai case turned around because of a procuratorate protest; most people never reach that step. On exit, also obtain a separation certificate from the employer—see Item 17 of this section (separation certificate)

Sources · 5

1. 全国人大常委会 (2007). 劳动争议调解仲裁法（第六、三十九条）. rsj.ankang.gov.cn/Content-2150407.html（安康市人力资源和社会保障局转载）；最高人民法院 (2020). 关于审理劳动争议案件适用法律问题的解释（一）（法释〔2020〕26 号，第四十二、四十四条）. court.gov.cn/fabu/xiangqing/282121.html
2. 最高人民法院 (2019). 关于民事诉讼证据的若干规定（法释〔2019〕19 号，第十四、十五条）. court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/212721.html
3. 劳动部 (1994). 工资支付暂行规定（第六条），黑龙江省人民政府「政策帮你问」引述. hlj.gov.cn/hlj/c116413/202402/c00_31712524.shtml
4. 劳动和社会保障部 (2005). 关于确立劳动关系有关事项的通知（劳社部发〔2005〕12 号），黑龙江省人民政府「政策帮你问」引述. hlj.gov.cn/hlj/c116413/202408/c00_31757488.shtml
5. 郭勇辉, 边琬茹 (2025). 两年之外的工资支付情况举证责任应由谁承担？检察日报. spp.gov.cn/spp/llyj/202508/t20250806_703164.s…（最高人民检察院网站刊载）；维权路径见第 7 节