Employment Compliance

HR Compliance Audits

Whether your business is relatively young and HR-related tasks have been handled by a one-person team, or your business has been operating for multiple years with a fully staffed HR Department, HRC provides HR Compliance Auditing solutions that meet the needs of your organization. We provide both full-service and self-service HR Compliance Audits to assess the employment practices, compliance and human resource functions within an organization. Completion of an HR Compliance Audit enables an organization to:

• Accurately identify the beneficial and problematic areas of current employment practices
• Strategically plan efforts needed for compliance and improvement
• Create a template to guide administration on not only industry best employment practices, but also compliance with state and federal regulations.

HR Consultants’ Compliance Audits examine the following key areas of the employment life cycle, compliance, and human resource functions, covering over 100 employment issues:

HRC offers two audit options - a Self-Administered, Automated Audit, and Comprehensive Auditing Services

Self-Administered, Automated Audit

HRC’s Self-Administered, Automated Audit is a convenient and affordable solution to help identify the current state of your HR infrastructure and employment practices. Personnel most familiar with your organization’s practices can complete and manage the assessment completely online, receive real-time results and recommendations, and save the results for continuous management of practice improvements.

HRC’s Self-Administered Automated Audit includes:

• Online access for 12 months
• A series of categorized questions that walk you through assessing the current practices of your organization
• Automatic bookmark capability enabling you to complete the audit at your own pace and as time permits
• Technical assistance for questions or clarifications associated with the auditing tool
• Upon completion of the online assessment, a report of findings and prioritized recommendations can be printed, saved, and accessed on-line for 12 months to guide practice improvements
• An HRC Senior Consultant will review your audit findings and conduct up to a one-hour conference call or Web-delivered meeting with you, to walk you through the High Priority findings and their applicability to your organization, and discuss the potential implications and recommended actions to resolve the issues.

Order and begin your assessment today.

Comprehensive Audit Services

HRC’s Comprehensive Audit Services provide an organization with a non-biased, comprehensive assessment of its HR infrastructure, enabling organizations to fully understand the state of their current employment practices. HRC customizes each Comprehensive Audit approach to meet the specific issues or needs of each client. HRC provides:

• Thorough review of the key HR functional areas, covering over 100 HR issues
• On-site review of records, documentation, and materials, as well as meetings and interviews with selected personnel
• Review of other aspects of the organization relevant to the customized approach
• Immediate feedback from your assigned HRC Project Manager
• Evidence-based documentation of current practices and identification and prioritization of risks
• Customized Report of Findings and Recommendations, as well as Implementation Management Tool
• Review of findings and recommendations with key staff members
• Customization of an implementation plan defining the actions needed to meet state and federal employment requirements and regulations, and assisting in the efficient and effective management of compliance risks
• Technical support for solution implementation if needed or requested.

HRC’s Comprehensive Audit Services can include virtual as well as on-site services. Contact us today to discuss your customized comprehensive auditing needs.

Employee Complaints Investigation & Resolution

How employers respond to and investigate internal complaints of harassment, discrimination and other misconduct allegations can have a serious impact both legally and practically, affecting employee morale, productivity and workplace culture.  HRC’s Employee Complaints Investigation and Resolution services can help to minimize these potential outcomes.  Our services include:

• Conducting investigations and interviews as an impartial representative, experienced in investigation techniques and capable of testifying in court if needed
• Gathering and reviewing of evidence
• Developing policies and procedures for supervisors and employees to ensure standardization as well as a commitment to the protection of your workforce, and to minimize risks associated with discrimination or employer misconduct
• Developing standardized forms and tools to assist with the application of your policies and procedures and ensure appropriate documentation
• Developing and delivering Supervisor and Employee training on relative aspects of your policies and procedures
• Mediating negotiations for resolutions
• Providing recommendations for remedy of the issue within the guidelines of your policies
• Providing recommendations if applicable for company-wide changes to minimize future risks.

Whether you are taking a proactive approach and need a review of your current policies and procedures, or an incident has occurred and you need assistance in handling it appropriately, contact HRC for the experience and knowledge you can count on!

Employee Handbooks, Policies, & Procedures

Effective workplace handbooks, policies, and procedures have never been more important than in today’s challenging, ever-changing business world.  It is essential for organizations to have policies and procedures developed and implemented based on best employment practices, if for no other reason than to protect your organization and its employees.

But effective policies and procedures offer benefits beyond this – they provide for:

• Uniformity and consistency in decision-making and operations
• Demonstration of the organization’s values
• Quick and efficient action and resolution when a problem occurs
• A framework for business planning
• Direction of the organization despite periods of change
• Assistance with performance assessment and accountability
• Clarification of functions and responsibilities
• Improved communication for employees
• An overall sense of stability and dependability to the workforce
• And of course, employment practice-related risk management.

HRC develops both individual policies and procedures for our clients, as well as entire Personnel/Employee Handbooks, all based on industry best practices and in alignment with today’s ever-changing state and federal regulations.

HRC offers solutions to fit any organization size or need including:

• Handbook Express – a downloadable template you can customize yourself
• Review of your current policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the most current regulations
• Development of individual policies and procedures to meet organizational changes
• Development of your entire Personnel/Employee Handbook from start to finish.

HRC also provides custom training at both the supervisor and employee level to ensure your workforce understands its roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Don’t guess when it comes to your policies and procedures – Depend on an experienced professional – Depend on HRC!

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Audits

Are your employees classified correctly according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? What kind of impact can it have on your organization if they aren’t? Well, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled on many cases that have costs organizations more than they can afford, but that doesn’t have to happen to you.

To meet an exempt classification, a job must pass the three “tests” of the FLSA regulations – salary level test, salary basis test, and duties test. Although these rules are clear, the difference between exempt and non-exempt positions can be confusing, and misclassification can cost your organization in many forms such as back pay, reclassification and market-competitive compensation adjustments, morale issues and even legal defense fees if suits are filed by employees – present or past (in light of the Lilly Ledbetter Act). The longer you wait to reclassify your employees the more expensive it may be. And because job duties change over time, what was once an appropriate classification maybe a year or two ago can now be a misclassification.

HRC helps our clients meet the legal requirements of the FLSA, reviewing positions’ exempt/non-exempt status and overtime provisions. HRC utilizes the most current regulations, as well as Department of Labor information to provide best practice recommendations for position classifications. Our team is experienced in employment law and has strategic partnerships with employment law attorneys to validate classifications if needed.

Affirmative Action Plans

Do you have a minimum of 50 employees and are conducting business with the federal government as a prime or subcontractor?  Then you are most likely required by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Office of Federal Contracts Compliance Program (OFCCP) to have an affirmative action program in place.

HRC helps our clients protect themselves from what can be crippling OFCCP non-compliance issues when it comes to your affirmative action programs.  One of the most important aspects of OFCCP compliance is to have a written Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) on file, implemented, and updated annually.

Developing and updating your AAP can be a long and daunting task, not to mention that inaccuracies in your data if audited by the OFCCP can have a tremendous impact on your operations.  HRC takes this burden from our clients and provides affordable plan development, annual updates, and guidance needed to meet federal regulations.

HRC develops our clients’ AAPs to reflect OFCCP requirements, including the following four major areas:

1.  Establishment of responsibilities for implementation of the AAP
2.  Identification of problem areas through statistical analyses of the company’s workforce
3.  Development of action-oriented programs designed to correct any problem areas found
4.  Implementation of internal audit and reporting systems that can be used to periodically measure the effectiveness of the total affirmative action program.

If audited by the OFCCP, HRC’s AAP clients are in good hands!  HRC assists with the development of OFCCP requested responses which can be quite overwhelming if you’re staff are limited and/or less experienced.

Contact HRC today to alleviate the action needed for affirmative action!

HR Technical Assistance

Today’s emerging human resource challenges are more complex than ever and HR technical assistance provides your organization with practical, non-legal advice for your day-to-day HR issues.   HRC will help your staff and leadership make informed decisions through best practice recommendations, minimize your risks, and control costs in the areas of human capital management.  HRC provides HR technical assistance either over the phone, through email, or on client site.

Don’t make haphazard decisions hoping there won’t be repercussions, or waste precious time trying to research the right answer.  Protect yourself and your organization by contacting HRC for the experience-based assistance you need!  You can sign up for a trial of 6 months, letting us handle your HR needs, or sign up for 12-months where HR Consultants will provide assistance to your organization quickly, and we stand behind our services we provide!