A question that I have been asked repeatedly throughout my career is what does HR do? The HR department can seem like a mystery; sometimes helpful, sometimes scary, but all too often not well understood.
The function of human resources is to manage the employee life cycle – everything from staffing, training and development, compensation, safety and health to employee relations. Effective HR professionals must have a wide skill set and knowledge base, with regular education and training on wage and hour law, discrimination, recruiting, managing employees, safety and health, leave laws, health care reform, benefits administration and a multitude of other federal, state, and local regulations.
In every organization, large and small, there is a responsibility to protect the company from liability and to implement fair, legal, and consistent employment practices. Ignorance is not bliss in HR! Below is an introduction to a few HR Basics that every business should know.
I-9s:
Every employer in the U.S. must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual hired in the United States. The Form is used to verify (1) the identity of the person hired, and (2) that they are authorized to work in the United States. The employee must present acceptable documents showing evidence of who they are and their work authorization, and the employer has to determine whether those documents seem to be genuine. The employee must provide these documents after they’ve accepted a job and no later than the first day they work, and the employer is required to complete the form within three business days of the employee’s start date.
Wage and Hour Laws
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards. This is the law that classifies employees as exempt or non-exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements. To be exempt from these requirements, certain professional, executive, and sales jobs can be exempt if they satisfy three tests: the salary-level test, the salary-basis test, and the duties test.
What does that mean? Exempt employees must earn a weekly salary that meets the minimum requirements. This minimum threshold has in the past and will continue to change, so a business must continually monitor their pay to satisfy the test. Additionally, the employer must pay the full salary in any week the employee works, regardless of how many hours the person worked. Finally, the employee’s primary job duties must meet certain criteria set out in the law.
Discrimination Laws
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Equal Pay Act (EPA), the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) are key federal laws that prohibit employers from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation), national origin, disability, age or genetic information. These laws also prohibit retaliation against people who complain of or report discrimination or participate in an equal employment opportunity (EEO) investigation.
These laws prohibit discrimination in all aspects of the pre-hire and employment relationship including recruiting, interviewing, hiring, promotions, demotions, job transfers, compensation, training, discipline, benefits administration and terminations.
Even if you don’t work in HR, owners, supervisors, and managers have a responsibility to understand and comply with the above laws and company policies. Best practices for managers are to know and understand your company’s policies and procedures, respond to employee complaints as soon as possible and demonstrate your willingness to listen to complaints and be as objective as possible about what you hear.