HR Compliance: Minimize Administration to Maximize Productivity
(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at Poster Guard® Compliance Protection, a division of HRdirect and the leading labor law poster service that gets your business up to date with all required federal, state and local labor law postings, and then keeps it that way — for an entire year. Enjoy the article!)
I don’t have to tell you that HR departments are busy right now. They’re managing the return of employees to the workplace and drafting guidelines for employees who will continue to work remotely. In addition, HR is trying to figure out how to conduct virtual annual benefits enrollments, what the 2021 budget is going to look like, and should the company have any sort of holiday celebration.
All of these activities are important. Another functional area of human resources that’s equally important is HR compliance.
Compliance matters cannot be ignored. And many HR departments don’t have the time to do all the necessary research about each federal, state, and local law on their own. Or even if they can squeak out the time, is that really what brings the most value to the organization?
It’s probably not a surprise to hear that employers are responsible for informing employees about their employment rights. One of the most common ways employers do that is with labor law posters and handouts. But what might be surprising are the foreign language requirements.
In the 2018 Census survey, it was reported that there are almost 60 million Hispanic people living in the U.S., which is about 20% of the population. The survey also reported that approximately 41 million people, or about 14% of the population, speak Spanish at home.
That’s why in 19 states and Washington DC, it’s a requirement to post certain labor law notices in Spanish. Even if the organization doesn’t have any Spanish speaking employees.
In addition, there are some posters on the federal, state, and local levels that must be posted in Spanish or other foreign languages if you have a certain number of employees who speak that language. For example, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) poster must be posted in Spanish at locations with a “significant number” of Spanish speaking employees who are not proficient in English.
The law is a bit unclear on how to define “significant number”, so I asked Ashley Kaplan, Esquire, senior employment law attorney for ComplyRight for a suggestion. Ashley leads the legal team for Poster Guard. “FMLA regulations do not define ‘significant number’ but, based on similar state and local laws, it is a best practice to post in Spanish if 5% or more of the workforce is impacted.”
Complying with Spanish posting requirements is just one example of how complex and time-consuming labor law posting compliance can be. The good news is that there are services available to take care of the compliance for you. If you’re not familiar with the Poster Guard Compliance Protection Service, here’s a high-level overview of what the service offers.
- It provides organizations with their required postings on a federal, state, and local level. In English, Spanish, and any other required language. As well as industry-specific postings.
- Notices can be provided in poster format, smaller binder format, and electronically to accommodate your hybrid workforce.
- Poster Guard will monitor federal, state, and local laws and send replacement postings when the posting requirements change.
I’ve used a labor law posting service in the past and cannot say enough good things about it. Think about what a service like this can do for HR department productivity.
- Reduce administration time. HR departments should be spending their time on activities that require face-to-face interactions like recruiting, training, and performance coaching.
- Ensure organizational compliance. Don’t get me wrong. Compliance is important. But we don’t have to do it alone. Services like Poster Guard can be a valuable member of our human resources team.
- Do the right thing for employees. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, employers have an obligation to tell employees their rights. Not only does the organization do the right thing in terms of compliance, but they do the right thing by directing their efforts toward other activities like training, performance, and recognition.
Now is the perfect time to make sure the organization has their labor law postings in order. So, HR can focus on helping the organization get back to the new normal.
If you want to learn more about the Poster Guard Compliance Protection Service, check out their website. HR Bartender readers receive a special discount for $30 off Poster Guard Compliance Protection including FREE ground delivery right now using the code SC32767. Don’t miss out!
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