Anchor Payroll Blog

If you employ or plan to employ anyone under 18, you need to be aware of how federal child labor laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) play a key part in your business success. You should also check your state's legal requirements and follow the rules offering more protection. The information we'll cover below pertains to federal law.

We recommend having five separate files for each employee, as outlined below:

• I-9 file: Keep all Form I-9s in a separate master file or three-ring binder.
• Medical file: This file should contain everything related to an employee’s medical history, including health insurance enrollment forms. It’s important to separate this file because you cannot legally base personnel decisions, such as who gets promoted and who doesn’t, on an individual’s medical history. In addition, various privacy laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require that you keep confidential employee medical records separate from basic personnel files. The retention period will depend on the type of record.

Online trainings can be a useful tool for developing talent, but they can also end up being a waste of time and resources, even if the content and presentation are good. The difference between effective and ineffective training often comes down to whether employees are able to absorb and retain the information they receive.

A year ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that employers may not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment. The decision was a response to three separate cases, all of which were about employment discrimination based on “sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to all employers with 15 or more employees.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection is now open—the collection had been delayed because of COVID-19.

The Department of Labor has released sample notices employers may use to meet their obligations related to the COBRA subsidy available through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021:

If you’re finding it difficult to hire employees, you’re not alone. Bloomberg reports that many small businesses are struggling to find people who currently want to work—in fact, 42% say they have jobs they can’t fill. The number of people quitting jobs right now is also higher than average.  

The answer will depend on a number of factors, such as how many employees are misclassified, how much extra money they would have been paid if properly classified, and whether or not lawyers or regulatory agencies get involved.

Employee turnover is expensive—more so than you might think. According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost-per-hire is $4,129. However, turnover costs can vary depending on the length of time it takes to fill the role, the importance of the position to the employer, and the employer’s industry. Some costs are easily calculable, such as those of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding. Other costs can be difficult to measure, such as the impact of a termination on employee engagement. Easily measurable or not, all these costs hurt your bottom line.