Legal Question in Business Law in California

After 30 minutes of on-line (WestLaw) research, I could not find a single answer fitting all types of records. For example, Labor Code section 1776 requires a public-works contractor to generate and retain certain payroll records, and does not authorize, in so many words, their destruction at any time.

There is not any legal requirement. Some public project owners put a records retention requirement in their contracts. In the absent of that, you should keep the records for a bit over ten years, since the statute of repose on construction cases is ten years.