A Practical Review for Duplicate Employee Files

Two files with similar names may be duplicates, revisions, or records for different people. Begin with stable employee identifiers, document type, effective date, source, upload time, and system location. File names alone are weak evidence.

Place suspected duplicates in a review queue without changing either source record. The coordinator can compare approved fields and prepare a difference note. The record owner decides whether to merge, retain, supersede, or remove anything.

Pay attention to signatures, attachments, annotations, and access history. A newer timestamp does not always mean a newer document, especially after a migration or bulk upload.

If two records conflict, route the discrepancy to the owner and preserve both versions until a decision is recorded. Do not select the more convenient value just to clear the queue.

The closed review should show what was compared, the owner's decision, and the retained record reference. Follow the retention and legal hold rules before deletion.