Here’s an eye-opening statistic for you. Did you know that the U.S. Department of Labor enforces hundreds (yes, hundreds) of Federal employment laws? As an employer, that means that whether you have one or 1,000 employees, you are under the strict, watchful eye of Uncle Sam. And believe us, you don’t want to cross him.
As an employer, you have a responsibility to care for your employees and to provide them with a positive, productive, fair work environment. But because not every employer is as nice as you are, the government has to enforce a few laws in order to care for the American Worker. Through official policies such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), they do their part to make working conditions in the U.S. as favorable as possible.
However…as a manager or employer, it can be difficult to keep track of every single one of these laws, not to mention figuring out which actually apply to you and which may not. With as many as there are, you could feasibly learn a new rule every day for six months! And with the wide range of topics, it’s highly unlikely that you’d retain them all with a single read-through. Understanding every federal law would take days of studying even for the most brilliant of business professionals.
The good news is that the information is readily available. The U.S. Department of Labor makes them available online and easy to access; you just have to be willing to read it (and
make sure you interpret it all correctly). If, however,
you don’t have an extra six months’ worth of spare time for that, there is another solution. You can contact your friends at hr-haven! As part of our mission, we know and understand both the Federal and State (we haven’t even talked about the multitude of State regulations you’re supposed to know about) employment laws and can assess your situation to make sure you’re coloring inside the lines.
We know you want what’s best for your employees. So if that means understanding the details of worker’s compensation, minimum wage and the Black Lung Benefits Act (hello, coal miners), then so be it, right? You’ll do what it takes to make sure your workers are treated with not only the fair-handedness they deserve. . .but are also required by law to receive.
For more information, visit www.dol.gov or call us for help! We’ll review your business HR practices and help you brush up on your legal obligations as an
employer. Heck, we might even be able to save you time by telling you which laws you can ignore (say, if you’re not a coal miner) and which ones need your attention.