As we head toward the new year, following are some considerations for compliance in various areas. Staying on top of these will help keep your firm out of trouble while minimizing expenses and payroll.
- Payroll compliance is often more about correct interpretation of the law than math.
- If you are having trouble discerning between employees and independent contractors, look to the IRS guidelines for direction.
- Some—but not all—employee discounts qualify as income. Learn the difference.
- Even when personnel or positions appear to be exempt from overtime compensation, certain activities on your part can make you liable for paying it.
- Avoid paper-based payroll and other tracking systems. They are prone to error and can leave you exposed.
- Most business records must be kept for a minimum number of years. If you are uncertain, seven years is generally a safe number.
- An employee handbook is important to protect your company, especially if you make exceptions or grant special status to some classifications of workers but not others.
- OSHA compliance isn’t just for manufacturing firms and restaurants. Anyone can hurt themselves in a variety of ways, and non-compliance can result in hefty fines.
- Crossing county or state lines to open another office isn’t an automatic “reset button” for compliance based on employee count. For instance, all offices and work locations within a 75-mile radius, no matter what county or state they are in, count towards the 50+ employee threshold to offer eligible workers job-protected leaveunder the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
To explore more compliance issues and how you can most easily manage them, give us a call at 678-208-2802.