HR compliance is complicated. With the ever-evolving labor requirements, your company likely has even more legal requirements this year than last, though likely fewer than you will have next year. Keeping track of all these compliance requirements is a more-than-fulltime job, especially if you’re running a small or midsize business that isn’t employing many (or any) HR specialists.
To help you keep your HR compliance requirements in order, PassioHR provides the following checklist, which briefly runs through the most important compliance requirements related to your employees.
To help you keep your HR compliance requirements organized, we are dividing them into three different types:
Going through your requirements on this basis can help you keep them straight. Note that this is a checklist, not a detailed explanation of all the requirements. For each item on this checklist, expect to do additional research to determine what requirements apply to your company.
Many compliance requirements come around every year with an annual reporting requirement. Some of these include:
For all regular employees, you must file W-2s. In addition, you must issue other forms, usually 1099s, for paid contractors.
You must also file EEO-1 reports to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The data compiles demographic information such as the race, ethnicity, gender, and job categories of your employees.
Your company will also have to file annual OSHA reports that cover any workplace accidents or incidents. This is in addition to the required incident reports.
There are also several reports you have to file annually in relation to healthcare. You will have to report on healthcare benefits to employees and the IRS if you are an applicable large employer (ALE) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), if you have more than 50 full time equivalent employees . You must also communicate to employees about their prescription benefits which are relevant to Medicare Part D. Finally, you have to report to Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) if you offer your employees self-funded healthcare options.
The Department of Labor (DOL) requires certain workplace posters be posted visibly in areas accessible to all employees. Your state may also have required posters as well. You don’t have to report these, but you should check them annually to make sure you’re in compliance. Your state government will also have poster requirements that you must take into account.
Ensuring compliance with labor laws should begin long before you actually hire an employee. Start by documenting policies on relevant laws, including Title VII (discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin), age discrimination, sexual harassment, accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and if you live in one of the states that requires participation in a mandatory retirement program or a state paid medical leave program.
Make sure your hiring practices are non-discriminatory, which can include ensuring you post job ads where they’re visible to diverse candidates. You will also want to review how you narrow your candidates, evaluate references, and other parts of the hiring process. Make sure your interviewing procedures are consistent and don’t lead to discrimination. You can ask about ADA status, but there are limits, so make sure your approach is legal.
Ensure you have uniform approaches to determining pay and benefits for candidates, and ensure you have a neutral offer letter than you can use for most or all new hires. Make sure you’re classifying employees properly under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Have an established, uniform onboarding process that includes sexual harassment training.
There are several situations where you must respond in certain ways to remain in compliance with labor laws. These include:
When an employee raises concerns about workplace conditions, you need to take it seriously. Whether the complaint is about safety, discrimination, harassment, or other concerns, failure to properly document and respond to the complaint could have expensive consequences in the future.
OSHA requires timely reporting for many types of injuries. For an employee death, you must file an OSHA report within 8 hours. For other serious injuries, reports are due within 24 hours.
FMLA provides protections for employees who take leave because of their own medical condition or that of another family member. In particular, it protects their job. While you can find ways to make sure the work gets done while the employee is on leave, these must comply with FMLA rules, and you must make sure the employee can return to their job at the end of their leave.
Firing is never an easy decision, nor is it easy to accomplish without running afoul of labor laws. It’s important to have clear procedures that establish cause for firing, even in ostensibly at-will employment states.
Of course, firing and hiring aren’t the only situations where your employees’ status changes. Employees can move from part-time to full-time or from contractor to employee and vice-versa. In these situations, benefits and reporting requirements can change. Make sure you have procedures in place for these employment changes.
At PassioHR, we offer a full range of compliance services for all our clients. Our Elevated Engagement Plus® Approach allows us to deliver the exact compliance services you need. Our experts bring their specialized understanding of labor laws to help you meet all compliance requirements.
We take the time to understand your business utilizing a powerful two-pronged approach. We get to know you, your employees, and your procedures, but we maintain an outsider perspective so we can see your company both from within and as an objective observer to ensure practices that are effective for you while complying with all relevant laws.
Want to learn more about how PassioHR can help your business stay in compliance? Please use our online form to request a proposal.
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