In yesterday’s Advisor, we covered audit areas for compensation and preemployment issues. Today, we’ll look at employment and termination issues, and we’ll introduce a unique checklist-based audit system.
Job descriptions. For all positions, you should have up-to-date job descriptions that accurately reflect the job duties. Make sure that the job descriptions identify all essential functions of the job.
Recordkeeping. Be sure that you are maintaining wage/hour records as required. Pay particular attention to meal breaks, especially if you use an automated system.
Independent contractors. Review classifications of all independent contractors.
Employee leaves. Make sure you know the rules regarding when you have to provide time off, paid or unpaid, for jury duty, military service, voting, family and medical leave, and sick leave to care for a family member. Also, keep in mind that state and federal laws typically prohibit retaliating against employees who exercise their legal rights to certain types of leave.
“Probation.” Eliminate policies which state that new employees will be "on probation" for some period of time. This wording implies that when the probation ends, permanent, lifetime employment begins.
Immigration. Be sure that you are properly completing an INS Form 1-9, "Employee Verification Form," for each worker, and maintaining as required.
State Notice. Make sure you send a timely notice of new hires to the state if required. Confirm that new employees receive notices regarding disability insurance, workers’ compensation, and sexual harassment.
Posters. Make sure you maintain a complete set of up-to-date posters as required by law.
What are your competitors offering workers these days? Check your state’s edition of BLR’s exclusive Employee Compensation in [Your State] program to find out. Try it at no cost or risk.
Employee privacy. If you engage in sensitive activities such as workplace searches, polygraph tests, drug and alcohol tests, fingerprinting, use of criminal arrest information, and monitoring or recording employees’ telephone conversations and e-mail, review your policies and practices carefully.
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?
What Will Your Audit Find?
We don’t know, but it’s likely to turn up some problems. To resolve them, you’ll need a trusted resource. For more than 20 years, many experienced comp pros have relied on an extraordinary program from BLR.
In fact, thousands of managers have put their faith in Employee Compensation in [Your State]. The [Your State] refers to the fact that a separate edition is published for each of 43 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia. So if you live in Illinois, Employee Compensation in Illinois is the reference you receive.
Don’t trust national salary data when you can have data specifically for your state and region. Find state data on hundreds of jobs in BLR’s famed Employee Compensation in [Your State] program.
Each edition of the Employee Compensation in [Your State] service contains these key elements:
–Recommended Rate Ranges localized for your state and region for hundreds of jobs, based on surveys and official data. You shouldn’t pay the same in Manhattan, Kansas, as you do on Manhattan Island in New York. This program makes sure you don’t.
–A to Z State and Federal Law Comparisons. Comp and benefits are regulated by a tangle of laws. Employee Compensation offers an alphabetically arranged set of practical analyses on how to comply. Look up "ERISA" or "Overtime" or "Workers’ Compensation" and you instantly have a plain-English explanation of how the controlling laws—state and federal—apply to you.
–A Full Job Descriptions Program. Employee Compensation offers a complete tutorial for setting up a job descriptions program. Many ADA-compliant sample descriptions are provided, ready to copy and use.
–Employee compensation and benefits surveys. BLR’s exclusive survey data come from thousands of organizations just like yours. You get three surveys: exempt compensation, nonexempt compensation, and employee benefits.
–Free newsletter and updates. The Employee Compensation newsletter helps keep you on top of new state and federal compensation and benefits laws. Six updates throughout the year keep your book current with all new compensation laws.
–Complete wage and salary administration guidance. Walks you through the entire compensation process with step-by-step instructions for analyzing and pricing jobs, writing job descriptions, employee compensation policies, and more.
Use the links below to see samples of the program and newsletter, as well as a full table of contents of what’s included.
The program is priced affordably for small companies as well as large, at only a few dollars a day. That’s coffee money for just about every form of information most managers need to run a competitive and efficient comp/benefits program.
You can check out the entire program in your own office for up to 30 days, with no need to buy. (We even pay return postage.) Just click the link below, and we’ll be happy to set things up.
Start a no-obligation free trial
Download product sample
Download sample newsletter
Download Table of Contents
Are there any advantages to having an outside consultant do the audit instead of performing it internally? Or vice versa?