Employment Policies And Procedures: 10-Point Compliance Review Can Help Avoid Lawsuits

Employment law in California is changing fast. And unless you stay on top of new requirements, your policies and procedures could be out of date—and you could be headed for a lawsuit. To help you stay out of trouble, we’ve put together a list of key compliance issues you can review to determine whether you’re keeping current.

Compliance-Review Checklist

 

1. Wage and hour.

    

   • Do your wage and hour policies and procedures comply with the recently revised Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders?

      

   • Does your overtime pay policy comply with the new wage orders, generally time and a half after eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week?

      

   • Do your exempt employees meet all the requirements for exempt status under federal and state laws? Do exempt-employee job descriptions accurately describe their job duties? 

      

   • Are you paying out accrued vacation and other wages due on termination within the required time limits?

    

2. Harassment and discrimination.

    

   • Do you have clear anti-discrimination and harassment policies? Do you regularly distribute them to all employees?

      

   • Have you recently conducted anti-harassment training for supervisors and employees? Have you documented your training efforts?

      

   • Does your employee complaint investigation system need updating? 

    

3. ADA compliance.

    

   • Do you have up-to-date job descriptions that accurately reflect position duties?

      

   • Do you have a reasonable accommodation policy? Have you trained managers in how to approach the accommodation process with a disabled employee?

    

4. Leaves of absence.

    

   • Do you have policies for disability leave, pregnancy disability leave and family and medical leave?

      

   • Are you correctly handling the required paperwork for family and medical leaves, including medical certifications and notifications to employees that leave is being designated as FMLA leave?

    

5. Hiring.

    

   • Do you follow all state and federal laws on conducting background checks?

      

   • Were interviewers trained about questions they can and can’t ask applicants under state and federal anti-discrimination laws?

      

   • Do you follow all required procedures for completing and retaining new-hire I-9 forms and documentation?

      

   • If you hire minors, are you following federal and state laws regarding permitted work hours and types of work?

      

   • Have you followed the rules for determining whether a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor or employee? 

      

   • Are you timely in filing the required information and tax forms for independent contractors, including the new report to the state Employment Development Department

    

6. Employment agreements.

    

   • Do you have employees sign stand-alone at-will agreements? Do you include an at-will provision in offer letters, job applications, employment agreements and your employee handbook?

      

   • Have you updated your arbitration agreement to comply with recent changes in requirements for pre-dispute arbitration provisions?

    

7. Trade secrets and confidentiality.

    

   • Do you require employees to sign agreements not to disclose your confidential information? Do you require employees to sign non-solicitation agreements?

      

   • Do you ask departing employees to sign a statement that they’re not taking confidential documents or computer files with them?

      

   • Do you have other procedures to protect trade secrets, such as marking sensitive documents as “confidential” and restricting access to confidential information?

    

8. Electronic communications.

    

   • Do you have a policy defining acceptable uses of your company’s computer system, including Internet access and e-mail?

      

   • Have you notified employees in writing that their electronic communications are not private?

    

9. Health and safety.

    

   • If you conduct drug and alcohol testing, do your policies comply with state and federal rules?

      

   • Do you have an effective injury and illness prevention program?

      

   • Do you maintain an OSHA log of injuries and illnesses and post it annually?

      

   • Do you have a program to prevent and quickly respond to workplace violence? 

    

10. Termination.

     

    • Do you review individual terminations to assess whether there are legal concerns?

       

    • When planning a layoff, do you follow your layoff policy, if you have one? Have you determined whether you have to provide employees with WARN Act notices?

       

    • Do you include special age discrimination claim waiver language in releases for individual terminations or group layoffs?