Of the many resources your business needs, people are perhaps the most important. You rely on the skill and experience of employees and managers at nearly every level of your company, and accounting for them is an integral part of your corporate planning. Numerous laws govern the way employees should be treated in the workplace, and it’s important to make sure you are in full compliance with each and every one of those regulations.
Here, we’ll go over a number of the laws and regulations you’ll need to keep in mind over the course of structuring your company’s policies and procedures.
Posters
It’s fairly simple but still mandatory. Under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Department of Labor, you have to make sure a number of posters are up in your workplace. These typically provide information about the following matters:
- Employment rights
- Workplace safety
- Minimum wage
Typically, these are placed on employee bulletin boards or in breakrooms where they’ll be easily noticed. The rule is they should be conspicuously placed, so one walking through your workplace should see them without any effort.
Nondiscrimination
Fair employment practices are a key part of your human resources management strategies, and it will be important to have protocols in place to make sure every employee is treated fairly. In addition, hiring procedures and promotions will need to be handled in a way that emphasizes the merits of individuals rather than their backgrounds. Specifically, make sure you avoid discrimination based on race, religious background, disability, sexual orientation, etc.
Maintaining compliance with the laws that govern fair employment practices (such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) is key to preventing legal entanglements down the road. Not only will it prevent employment lawsuits, but it can also give you an extra layer of protection in the event that litigation does occur.
Wage Laws
As of 2016, Illinois labor laws dictate a minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. In addition, employees who work over 40 hours in the course of a work week are entitled to overtime pay. Budgeting and payment policies should be worded to be in full compliance with these requirements. Setting forth procedures for payroll, defining “work week,” and so forth can all help with this.
There are also pay requirements for salaried employees as well which also need to be taken into consideration.
Occupational Safety
Under OSHA, employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment for their employees. This includes posting and enforcing safety standards and procedures for dealing with hazards in the workplace as well as taking steps to prevent dangerous circumstances.
Ensuring Compliance
In the course of planning to maintain compliance with federal and state standards regarding employment and labor, it helps to have legal support. There are many laws, and they are frequently complex, which means it can be easy to miss minor (or even major) details in the course of structuring procedures and standards. Hart David Carson can assist you when it comes to ensuring compliance with labor laws.