Your Guide to Managing 4 Common Employment-related Challenges

Having a clear plan for compliance with applicable laws and regulations is essential. Non-compliance can lead to audits and expensive fines. With changing regulations that can be complex to understand and hard to determine what applies to your business, it’s important to have a knowledgeable HR partner that can help you audit your company, determine your compliance needs, and then help you to implement the right steps, from insurance policies to an onsite safety program. Here’s a closer look at four important employment areas for businesses to examine.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

In most states, businesses are required to carry workers’ compensation insurances. Workers’ compensation insurance is a type of insurance policy that provides wage protection and medical benefits for employees injured in the course of doing their jobs. It can, in some cases, also help limit negligence lawsuits against employers when a worker is injured. Finding and administering a policy can be time-consuming and labor intensive. Consider solutions that connect your workers’ compensation to actual wages paid, which keeps premiums manageable and accurate, reduces the chances of a balloon payment if you’re audited, and makes it easier to forecast budgets.

COBRA Administration

COBRA (or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) allows employees that have been separated from an employer, or experience other eligible qualifying events, to continue to pay for group health benefits on their own. Your business may be required to offer COBRA if you have 20+ employees on more than half the typical work days during the last calendar year and offers group health insurance. Some states also have specific regulations regarding continuation coverage that must be understood and implemented if they apply to your business. Outsourcing your COBRA and state continuation administration is one important strategy for minimizing the amount of work that goes with it. COBRA requires a significant administrative effort, including maintaining staff eligibility information, notifying employees, communicating with former employees that are covered, handling payments processing, paying for premiums, communicating with insurance providers, and more.

State Unemployment Insurance

When you have employees in a specific state, there’s a significant amount of administration that goes along with maintaining compliance with each state’s unemployment insurance program. From maintaining basic employment information to responding to claims, it’s important that your state unemployment programs emphasize compliance. The penalties can be steep for missing deadlines or under-contributing to payments owed. The right partner can assist with aspects such as managing payroll contributions, maintaining paperwork, responding to claims and appeals, and providing appropriate separation documentation.

Safety Programs

Onsite safety programs can help keep your staff safe, while ensuring that your business is in compliance with OSHA and other important safety regulations. By designing and implementing a safety program, you can reduce risk while controlling workers’ compensation premiums and other costs. Safety programs include auditing your business for safety risks, ensuring you have the right insurance policies in place, developing OSHA training and manuals, complying with posting requirements, and more.

Compliance with applicable laws and regulations is a serious matter; missteps can cost your business significantly in terms of fines and levies. Finding the right partner can help you ensure you’re identifying all areas of concern within your business and taking the steps needed to stay on track.