HR Compliance

September starts tomorrow. Which means if open enrollment is still sitting on your someday list, this is the week it moves to the top of it. Most small businesses treat open enrollment as a November event. Send the packet, collect the forms, done. That timeline works right up until it does not: a rate increase you did not budget for, a notice deadline you blew past, or an employee who signs up for something they did not understand and comes back angry in February. Here is the

Nobody writes it down. It never shows up in a hiring rubric or an email. But it gets said out loud in small business back rooms more often than most people would admit. "She just got married, so she'll probably be out on leave within a year." "She's got three kids at home. Can she really commit to this?" "We just don't want to be short-staffed again." We want to be clear about the spirit of this post. Most employers who think this way are not bad people, and they are usually

This is one of the most common questions we get from business owners, usually phrased something like: "We're only at nine people, we don't really need HR yet, right?" The honest answer is that you have needed HR since you hired your first employee. What changes as you grow is not whether HR applies to you. It is how much of it applies, and how expensive it gets to be wrong. Here is the actual breakdown. At 1 Employee The moment you have one W2 employee, a long list of obligat

Here is a situation that comes up more often than most employers expect. An employee turns in an FMLA medical certification. Something about it raises a question. Maybe the section meant for the doctor is filled out in what looks like the employee's handwriting. Maybe entries are blank, or the answers are too vague to tell whether the leave qualifies. Now what? Can you contact the provider to verify the form? Or do you have to go back to the employee first? A federal appeals

Take a second and answer that honestly. If the answer is "our office manager handles it" or "our controller does payroll, so she does the HR stuff too," this one is for you. Not because those people are bad at their jobs. Usually the opposite. They are competent, trusted, and willing to pick up whatever falls on the floor. That is exactly how this happens. But HR is not a pile of leftover tasks. It is its own discipline, with its own legal exposure and its own skill set. Here

Last month, a JPMorgan Chase executive went viral for all the wrong reasons. During the Knicks championship parade, she was filmed emptying a commemorative city trash can onto a Manhattan sidewalk and taking the bin home on the subway. Within days, the internet identified her, the Department of Sanitation fined her for littering and taking city property, and JPMorgan confirmed she was no longer with the company. Cue every business owner in America quietly wondering: what woul

You may not use Workday. You may not use any AI hiring tool at all. This lawsuit still matters to you. On June 22, 2026, a federal judge refused to dismiss age, race, and disability discrimination claims against Workday, one of the largest HR software platforms in the world. The case is now moving forward, and the legal reasoning behind it is setting a precedent that will affect every employer who uses any kind of technology in their hiring process, not just Workday customers

We are a few days away from Q3. If you are like most small business owners, the first half of the year happened fast. You hired a few people, lost a few people, gave some informal feedback, and told yourself you would circle back to the bigger stuff once things calmed down. Things did not calm down. They never do. This is not about your policies or your handbook. We already covered that ground this spring. This is about the operational side of HR, the stuff tied directly to p

An employee walks into your office and tells you something is wrong. Maybe it is a conflict with a coworker. Maybe it is something more serious, a harassment claim, an allegation of discrimination, a report of retaliation. What you do in the next five minutes matters more than most employers realize. Workplace complaints are not just uncomfortable conversations. They are legal events. And how you respond, from the moment the words leave the employee's mouth, sets the tone for

For years, pay secrecy was the default. Salaries were private, ranges were vague, and "we don't discuss compensation" was a perfectly acceptable HR policy. That era is ending. Pay transparency is no longer a coastal trend or a tech company talking point. It is a spreading legal requirement, a recruiting differentiator, and increasingly, something your employees already expect. The question is not whether your business will need to address it. The question is whether you get a

Let's be honest about how most intern programs get set up. Someone on the team mentions they need extra help over the summer. A manager says their nephew is looking for experience. An owner posts on LinkedIn and gets ten responses by Friday. And before anyone has asked a single legal question, you've got a 21-year-old starting Monday. That's not a hiring process. That's a liability waiting to happen. Summer intern season is here, and if you haven't thought through the complia

Because "we call them a contractor" doesn't make it legal. Let's talk about one of the most common and most costly mistakes we see in small and mid-size businesses. You bring someone on. They work for you regularly. Maybe they're on a set schedule. Maybe you trained them. Maybe they only work for you and nobody else. But you call them a contractor, send them a 1099 at the end of the year, and move on. Here's the problem: what you call someone and what they actually are under

Yes, really. And no, it can't wait until Q4. You've cleaned out the closets. Maybe reorganized the garage. Possibly even tackled the junk drawer. But when's the last time you took a hard look at your HR policies? If your answer is "we have those?" or "I think someone updated them a few years ago" this post is for you. Spring is the perfect time to do a quick HR audit before summer hiring kicks in, before Q3 performance reviews, and before a small, outdated policy quietly beco

The landscape just changed fast. Here's the plain-language breakdown so you can stop Googling and start acting. Let's just address the elephant in the room. If you've been following the news lately, or even just halfway paying attention, you know the DEI conversation has gotten loud. Executive orders. EEOC letters to Fortune 500 CEOs. Federal lawsuits against major corporations. Confusing headlines about what's legal, what's not, and what you're supposed to do with the DEI pr

When something goes wrong in your workplace, the instinct is often: “We need a lawyer.” And sometimes, that’s the right move. But here’s what most business owners don’t realize: Most workplace problems don’t start as lawsuits. They start as: Undocumented conversations Inconsistent discipline Vague or unenforced policies Reactive leadership decisions That’s not a legal problem. That’s an HR problem, and HR problems are significantly more affordable to fix early. The Financial

If you own or manage a business, it’s tempting to handle employee issues quickly...especially when things feel urgent. A short text. A fast email. A quick message to "get it off your plate." But here’s the reality: some HR-related messages should never be sent casually to an employee. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because the format alone can create risk, confusion, or liability. This is where intentional HR guidance saves businesses money, time, and stress. W

(Real examples + HR best practices for employers across the United States) Let’s get something straight: No one wants federal agents showing up at their workplace, especially not unexpectedly. But it happens, and how you respond can protect your business, your employees, and your team’s morale. Whether it’s an I‑9 audit, a compliance review, or an enforcement action, ICE visits are not business as usual. Acting unprepared can expose you to penalties, operational disruption,

Let’s clear something up right away: Employee handbooks are not just for big companies with HR departments, legal teams, and 100+ employees. If you have one employee (or even plans to hire your first one), you need a handbook. Not because you’re corporate. Not because you want to be “formal.” But because a handbook protects your business and helps your employees feel supported, clear, and confident at work. And in 2026? An outdated handbook can quietly cause more damage than

Let’s say the quiet part out loud. Most terminations are justified. Performance issues. Attendance problems. Policy violations. Culture problems... But here’s the issue we see constantly: A justified termination can still create a legal problem. Not because the decision was wrong, but because of how it was handled. Where Employers Go Wrong (Even With Good Intentions) 1. “We Didn’t Document It Because We Didn’t Want to Escalate” This one is incredibly common. Employers avoid

(AKA the Earned Sick Time Act — and why it causes so many headaches) This month in HR…We’ve had a lot of conversations that start with: “Wait… we already have PTO. Do we still have to do ESTA?” Short answer: Probably, yes. Long answer: This law is confusing on purpose. And if you’re unsure how Earned Sick Time actually works, you’re in very good company. The Trend We’re Seeing Employers are trying to: • Simplify time-off policies • Combine PTO, sick time, and vacation • Stay