What You Don't Know Can Cost You

"According to the Chubb 2004 private company risk survey, one in four private companies had been sued by an employee or former employee. Twenty-two percent reported having an employee file a discrimination or harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or a state agency, during the past few years," Hahl quoted.
     Therein lies one of the more attractive features of Selective HR Solutions: transfer of liability.
     "That is huge," said Hahl. "When I go out and educate business owners on this program, they love when you say transfer of liability. When you come on to this program, you have transferred your human resource liability to Selective HR Solutions. You're getting all of your advice from them and as long as you follow what they tell you to do, you're completely covered."
     One of the most universally helpful services is the customized employee manual. It's a great improvement from many of the fill-in-the-blank ones from the Internet, which might not have everything a certain state requires. "Selective HR Solutions explains what the employer has to do so that the manual means something; how the employee has to sign for it; and how they're supposed to enforce it," Hahl said.
     "It needs to be updated and reviewed yearly by an attorney and accountant because of all the changes in the law. We provide all that as part of the services. Selective HR Solutions has attorneys on staff."
     Added Thompson, an employee manual can help the personnel as well as the boss. "Many times, employees just want to know what's right and wrong. Now you don't have the gray area: 'I know what I have to do when I come to work. I know what's going to happen if I'm late for work three times in one week.' When you have an HR problem, it takes personalities out of the situation."
     Another sticky area is immigration law. Employers have to be sure they're getting the I-9s- or immigration forms stating that the person is legal to work in this country - filled out.
     "And properly storing them," Thompson added. "They're not supposed to be kept with the employee files, but most employers don't know that. They're supposed to be kept in a separate file for Immigration to come in and be able to look at.'
     Continued Hahl, "Because, if they come in and say they want to see your 1-9s and you've kept them with your employee files, you've given them permission to look at everything in that file. So now they can look at your hiring practices, they can look at your applications, if you're writing on your applications, which you shouldn't do. Maybe you're writing something on there like a personal note. When you're interviewing somebody for a job and you put, 'came in with holes in their pants’ let's say. Well, that's discriminatory. Maybe that person can't afford a nice pair of pants.
     "Similarly, if you come in here and your job doesn't entail driving anywhere, I can't ask you if you have transportation to get here. It's against the law."
     Another area that could trip up some employers are state wage and hour laws. "Employers find it easier to work a 49-hour week so they don't have to try to figure out the overtime. Well, the law does not allow you to pay people the way you want, to make it easier on your bookkeeping,” Hahl said. The Selective program performs a review to determine specifically how the law’s classifications apply to your company.
     Clients of the Van Dyk Group's program through Selective HR Solutions range from two-person businesses to those with a hundred employees. Anyone who hires subcontractors needs to know about yet another aspect of law.

Contractors Are Connected To Their Subcontractors

Many contractors don't know it, but they can be held liable for offenses like harassment or discrimination that are done by their subcontractors.
     "A lot of the businesses here use subcontractors and they need to understand, 'If I hire a subcontractor, they need to know what my rules and regulations are and they have to abide by my policy, because if they do something wrong, my company can also be held liable;" said Hahl.
     A large discount retail firm was recently sued for a violation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, because a subcontractor didn't have its 1-9s filled out. The law pertains to companies with one or more employees.
     "The penalty for that is fines up to $100 to $10,000 per violation for record keeping and employment violations; and back pay and or front pay and attorney fees for discriminatory actions,” said Hahl. "Criminal penalties may be imposed for repeat violations."
     The Van Dyk Group signed on with Selective HR Solutions for its own 148 employees. Hahl said that the program does not have to exclude a company's existing HR person.
     "If a company has an office manager who handles some of this stuff for them, we go in and assist that person; we don't try to replace them. Our program is so reasonable, they don't have to replace that person," said Hahl.
     "Even though I'm the human resource director for our company, we still use Selective HR Solutions, because I do not want to interpret the law ... If there seems to be a gray area, I pick up the phone, call my HR consultant through Selective HR Solutions," Hahl said.
     Furthermore, companies who use the program have their employees sign a form stating that before they try to sue the company, they will be involved in "alternative dispute resolution" with Selective to try and resolve the issue. But apart from that, the company has already been advised by Selective how to run their human resources procedures so disputes don't happen in the first place.
     Hahl added, "We don't come in and tell a builder how to build a house. That's not our expertise. Our expertise is payroll and human resources and benefits."
     Because a lot of small employers can't afford to offer group health, dental, vision or other Fortune 500 benefits, "through this program, you have access to all those," Hahl said.
     Yet another option is a pay-as-you-go program that allows companies to pay Workmen's Compensation and general liability over a 52 week period.
     "That's no down payment," said Thompson, "but more importantly, think what that does to cash flow on a seasonal business. It makes it more manageable, and eliminates your Workmen's Comp audit at the end of the year."

For more information, Hahl may be reached at the Bay Avenue, Manahawkin office of The Van Dyk Group by calling 597-3667, extension 46.

Reprinted with permission of The Sandpaper from July 6, 2005

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