How to Manage HR Compliance and Avoid Legal Risks: 5 Ways

Compliance is one of the most critical functions that human resources professionals provide. Failure to adhere to the necessary compliance laws and HR procedures can seriously affect your business.

Read on to learn more about compliance and ways to shore up your internal processes to avoid the legal risks and consequences of non-compliance. Stay on top of compliance issues with BambooHR.

What Is HR Compliance?

HR compliance refers to the laws, regulations, and best practices that keep your employees safe from discrimination, harrassment, and mistreatment at work. It includes a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to):

• Workplace discrimination
• Wages and hours protections
• Health insurance and benefits
• Immigration laws
• Workplace safety
• Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

. It's up to HR professionals to lead the way in compliance training to ensure that all managers and employees understand their responsibilities and follow the correct procedures.

Types of Examples of HR Compliance Regulations

Employment laws and regulations vary at the federal, state, and local levels. You’ll want to make sure your HR team is familiar with the most common regulations protecting employees, and relevant legislation. A few of the most common HR laws include:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which protects employees from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. This includes sexual harrassment.
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Amended to Title VII (PDA), which protects employees against discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which mandates equal pay for equal work, regardless of an employee’s gender.
• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which protects employees from discrimination based on disability status.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects employees from discrimination based on their age.
• The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which protects employees from discrimination based on their genetic information or family medical history.

You’ll also need to comply with regulations regarding employees’ work hours, benefits, and working conditions:

• Affordable Care Act (ACA)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulations
• Wrongful discharge or termination laws

Legal Risks and Consequences of Non-compliance

From wage distcrimination lawsuits to PTO and benefits errors and more, the consequences of HR non-compliance can be incredibly costly.

5 Ways You Can Ensure Compliance at Your Organization

Here are five ways you can ensure compliance is front-and-center of your HR activity.

1. Invest in HR Compliance Software

Keeping up with ever-changing regulations is only the first step. To help, we recommend investing in the right HR software. As government and industry regulations evolve, technology can help you streamline and automate compliance processes.

When HR professionals don't have to manage cluttered spreadsheets or chase down updated employee information, they can focus on what matters.

Looking for an easier way to manage compliance? Keeping employee records in BambooHR can help. Instead of managing scattered spreadsheets and wasting hours on data entry, BambooHR brings all your employee data into one centralized, searchable database.

You can see everything from payroll information to licensing requirements at a glance, ensuring you're always on top of compliance issues.

2. Create HR Compliance Checklists

If you can’t pinpoint why employees don’t follow procedures, the reason might be that they don't know how. HR compliance checklists solve this problem by making action items visible and easy to understand.

For example, BambooHR makes it easy for new hires to see what paperwork they should complete. Your HR team won't have to spend hours chasing signatures, because our software sends automatic reminders until tasks are checked off and approved.

When HR procedures are written down in a way that’s easy to understand and easily accessible for every employee, you create a consistent reminder that removes the opportunity for excuses.

Free Process Compliance Checklist

It’s important that everyone within your organization—from employees to top management—complies with respective company and federal laws.

3. Provide Employees with HR Compliance Training

As you consider getting employees to follow procedures, keep the following in mind: If employees perceive your procedures as unnecessary to their “real” responsibilities, they won’t take them seriously.

Instead, it’s up to you to give your employees a deeper reason to prioritize compliance.

HR professionals can mitigate risks by leading regular training sessions. Ensure managers—and when relevant, individual contributors—know why you have these rules and why adhering to them is an important part of their job.

Some recommended employee trainings include:

• Sexual Harassment
• Non-discrimination and anti-retaliation
• Data safety and phishing prevention

4. Meet HR Compliance Goals Through Rewards

According to Forbes, making compliance training engaging is the key to overcoming compliance fatigue amongst employees. Rewarding compliance training completion can make things even more engaging for your employees. For example, do a quick quiz at the end of training and offer a gift card or company swag for everyone who scores 100%, or set a company-wide goal and celebrate together when you hit your mark.

5. Safeguard Against Common Compliance Issues through Internal Audits

Noncompliance is a huge financial risk. As federal, state, and local guidelines can change from year to year, you should be completing an organization-wide compliance audit once a year. According to SHRM, an HR compliance audit consists of two main parts:

• An evaluation of the organization's operational HR policies, practices, and process
• A review of current HR numbers like unfilled positions, turnover, employee satisfaction, etc.

Common compliance issues that may come up in an internal audit include:

• Discrimination and harassment
• Wage and hour compliance
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) compliance
• Immigration compliance
• Record-keeping and documentation

Whether you’re conducting a regulatory, strategic, specific, or comparative HR audit, the goal is to improve your HR department and processes to stay in compliance and keep things running smoothly.

Keep on Top of Employee Records

HR compliance can be demanding. The good news is you don’t have to manage it alone. We can help you collect and maintain your employee records in a single, secure system.

Create peace of mind knowing your employee records are in order and focus on building people instead of processes and spreadsheets. Stay ahead of compliance issues and make managing staff data easy with BambooHR.