Are you minding the gap? The compliance gap, that is.
Keeping up with regulations can be a real challenge. There are federal laws, state laws, county laws, city laws — and if your business is located in more than one state, good luck! (And if so, maybe buy your HR department something really nice to thank them for the headaches they endure on your organization’s behalf.)
Thankfully, help is on the way! This week, we talked to compliance attorney Shanna Wall of Poster Guard about how organizations can stay on top of compliance issues.
Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
This episode is sponsored by Poster Guard.
A Compliance Gap You Shouldn’t Forget
There are quite a few compliance issues that can put your business in jeopardy, but Wall says there’s one risk area that’s easy to overlook: job postings.
“The reason why this one’s top of mind for me is because we are seeing more and more city- and county-level posting requirements,” Wall says. She says many organizations focus instead on federal and state-level postings, neglecting these lower-level requirements.
To avoid this issue, Wall says, make sure that you post all of your requirements, even when they conflict with each other. “For example, chances are you’re in an area that has three different minimum wage posters — federal, state, and local,” she says. “You have to post all three, even though the highest number is the one that’s actually going to be applicable to that employer.”
Don’t Overlook Remote Workers When It Comes to Compliance
Many employees work remotely now, but just because someone is working from home doesn’t mean compliance issues go out the window. “The posting requirements actually remain the same,” Wall says.
Now, I’m going to guess that most employees won’t have labor laws hanging on their bedroom walls. However, the U.S. Labor Department has recently decided that electronic postings will keep organizations in compliance.
“If you do have remote workers that don’t come into your office or barely come into your office, you need to make those notices available via email or internet in some kind of electronic format that can be accessed by your employees,” Wall says. She recommends that organizations track acknowledgments that employees have received these notices.
Make Sure Your Social Media Policies Are Compliant
One of the hottest topics in compliance these days is social media. Many organizations have tried to limit their employees’ social media use, and there have been numerous instances of people dismissed for social media activities — and of those who have sued over such a dismissal.
So how should your organization navigate this tricky line? Wall says it’s more complicated than you might think. “What employers might see as a common-sense social media policy — where they’re trying to protect their company’s reputation and confidential information — might actually violate an employee’s Section 7 rights,” she says. “The National Labor Relations Board has ruled against several employers’ social media policies for actually being too broad and chilling the employees’ legally protected speech.”
To ensure that your policy is compliant, Wall recommends being as clear as possible in your policy. “Give as much detail and context as you can and provide examples of whatever communications that you’re prohibiting,” she says. “You want to show that your scope is limited and not overly broad.”
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
This episode is sponsored by Poster Guard.
