Compliance
Our goal is to help you understand, communicate, and comply with our ever changing state and federal human resource laws.
In today’s legal environment human resources compliance is a requirement for ALL businesses, both large and small. Knowing the laws can help you avoid non-compliance fines. Between our current administration’s new laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), OSHA, sexual harassment, and anti-discrimination laws, a business that isn’t aware of its HR responsibilities is playing a risky game.
- HR Audits: We perform thorough audits of your existing records to ensure compliance with Federal, state and local laws, as it pertains to your business. Laws vary based upon how many employees your company has. We confirm you are compliant and certified in providing accurate records for new and existing employees, including: FLSA, HIPAA, ADAA, FMLA, Military Leaves, I-9, and national background checks/drug testing.
- Conflict Resolution: We resolve conflicts between employees and managers, including sexual harassment charges, poor performance, and workplace investigations.
- Compliance Training: We conduct the mandatory EEO/Sexual Harassment Training your employees are required to have. We also conduct Safety training and develop Safety Plans to comply with OSHA.
- Labor Relations: We facilitate training including change management, mediation, and conflict resolution, contract negotiations, union avoidance.
- People Relations: We develop job descriptions, compliant applications, contractor agreements, and employee handbooks with clear policies and procedures. We conduct Fair Reporting Credit Act (FRCA) compliant nationwide background checks, motor vehicle reports, drug testing (including all DOT) and provide Federal and State mandatory posters for every state in the United States including Puerto Rico.
- Employer Compliance Requirements for 2009-2010:
| Date | Compliance Requirements |
|---|---|
| 2/1/10 | IRS: W-2 distribution deadline. NOTE: The official deadline is Jan. 31, but since Jan. 31 falls on a Sunday in 2010, the deadline to furnish 2009 W-2s to employees has been extended to Monday, Feb. 1. |
| 2/1/10 | OSHA: Most employers are required to post the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300) in their workplaces from Feb. 1 until April 30 of each year. |
| 2/17/10 | HIPAA: The HIPAA privacy and security rules become applicable to business associates on this date. |
| 5/22/10 | PPA: For collectively bargained plans, the rules on phased retirement pension distributions apply after the first plan year that begins after the last of the agreements terminates or, if earlier, this date. |
| 12/31/10 | EGTRRA: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) amendments to pension provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA do not expire because the PPA eliminates EGTRRA’s sunset provision. |
| 1/1/15 | PPA: Most U.S. companies will have until at least this date to fully fund their pension plans. |
| Date | Compliance Requirements |
|---|---|
| 9/08/09 | E-Verify: Rule requiring all federal contractors to use the federal government’s E-Verify employment eligibility system is scheduled to go into effect. |
| 9/30/09 | VETS-100A Report: By this date, federal contractors must file the VETS-100A Report for government contracts of $100,000 or more that were entered into or modified on or after Dec. 1, 2003, as well as the VETS-100 Report for any unmodified government contracts of $25,000 or more that were entered into prior to Dec. 1, 2003. |
| 9/30/09 | EEO-1 Report: By this date, employers with federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees and employers that do not have a federal government contract but have 100 or more employees must file an EEO-1 report with the EEOC. |
| 10/09/09 | Health insurance: Michelle’s Law goes into effect on this date. |
| 11/21/09 | GINA: The employment provisions of GINA (Title II) take effect. |
| 1/1/10 | PPA: A qualified long-term-care rider may be added to an annuity or life insurance contract such that the rider is fully funded through a partial cash surrender. Prior to the PPA, this would have been a taxable event. But as of taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2009, the act allows for this transaction as long as the investment in the original contract is large enough to support the transaction. |
| 1/1/10 | GINA: Title I of GINA takes effect for calendar-year plans. |
| 1/1/10 | Health insurance: Mental health parity provisions are effective for calendar-year plans. |
| 2/17/10 | HIPAA: The HIPAA privacy and security rules become applicable to business associates on this date. |
| 5/22/10 | PPA: For collectively bargained plans, the rules on phased retirement pension distributions apply after the first plan year that begins after the last of the agreements terminates or, if earlier, this date. |
| 12/31/10 | EGTRRA: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) amendments to pension provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA do not expire because the PPA eliminates EGTRRA’s sunset provision. |
| 1/1/15 | PPA: Most U.S. companies will have until at least this date to fully fund their pension plans. |
| Date | Compliance Requirements |
|---|---|
| 6/23/10 | Health Care Reform: A temporary reinsurance program for providing early retiree health coverage (for retirees who are older than 55 and not Medicare-eligible) becomes effective on this date. |
| 6/30/10 | Mental Health Parity: New regulations on providing parity for employees enrolled in group health plans who need treatment for mental health or substance use disorders apply to plan years starting after this date. |
| 12/31/10 | EGTRRA: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) amendments to pension provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA do not expire because the PPA eliminates EGTRRA’s sunset provision. |
| 1/1/11 | Health Care Reform: Employers with calendar plan years starting six months after enactment of the March 2010 health care reform law will be prohibited from using lifetime maximums and restrictive annual maximums starting on this date. They will also be barred from excluding adult children under 26 years old from plan participation and excluding pre-existing conditions for children under 19 years old. |
| 1/1/11 | Health Care Reform: As of this date, reimbursements from flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement accounts cannot be made for any medicine obtained without a prescription. |
| 3/23/12 | Health Care Reform: Plan administrators must provide plan participants with a uniform summary of benefits by this date–24 months after the health care reform law’s enactment. |
| 1/1/13 | Health Care Reform: Caps on the amount that can be directed to flexible spending accounts will kick in as of this date. |
| 1/1/14 | Health Care Reform: Some of the health care reform law’s most sweeping changes will take effect on this date, including minimum essential coverage for all plan designs offered by employers with more than 50 full-time employees, no exclusions based on pre-existing conditions, no annual limits, auto enrollment for employees of employers with more than 200 full-time employees and the imposition of employer penalties. |
| 1/1/15 | PPA: Most U.S. companies will have until at least this date to fully fund their pension plans. |
Employers need to check their Human Resources bulletin boards to ensure the posting notices are current. All notices should be posted prominently where both applicants and employees can readily see them.
If your employees do not speak English, you may be required to post in their language.
1. Consolidated EEO poster that covers Title VII, ADEA, ADAAA, JVA, VEVRAA, NDAA, and GINA. The poster is called “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law”. This poster was updated on 11/21/2009 to include changes made to the definition of a disability under ADAAA (2008), the New National Defense Authorization Act expanding FMLA and the new Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2009.
2. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) notice.
3. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers minimum wage, overtime, and child labor laws. (New minimum wage changed 7/24/09 to $7.25).
4. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) notice only effecting employers with over 50 employees. This notice should also reflect new military and family leave rights under the National Defense Authorization Act.
5. Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) notice. The post is called “Your Rights Under USERRA”.
6. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) notice. The poster is called “Job Safety and Health–It’s the Law”
7. Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act notice if you have farm laborers. The poster is called “Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Act”.
8. Stimulus Fund Abuse Whistleblower Protection notice for all federal employers who received money under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
9. Notice to worker with Disabilities paid at special minimum wage if applies to your company.
10. All your State Mandatory Posters as well.
Additionally, federal contractors and subcontractors also have a list of mandatory posting notices. Contact Di Ann for contractor requirements.
