BHI ERC Workplace Expertise. Compliance Confidence.

BHI ERC

Workplace Expertise. Compliance Confidence.

Latest Articles

Exempt by Assumption: A Pre-Investigation Stress Test for Salary-Basis and Duties Classifications
Compliance Resources

Exempt by Assumption: A Pre-Investigation Stress Test for Salary-Basis and Duties Classifications

Most overtime-exemption errors are inherited, not invented: a title copied from a competitor, a salary figure set years ago, a payroll code nobody has revisited. This guide outlines a structured self-audit of the salary-basis and duties tests, the state-law overlays that can quietly override them, and the documentation an employer should be able to produce before an investigator asks.
Drafted by Machine, Signed by a Manager: A Pre-Filing Audit for AI-Assisted Performance Documentation
Compliance Resources

Drafted by Machine, Signed by a Manager: A Pre-Filing Audit for AI-Assisted Performance Documentation

Generative AI is now part of the manager's drafting workflow for reviews, warnings, and improvement plans. Before an AI-assisted document reaches a personnel file, HR should apply a repeatable audit that tests facts, language, consistency, data handling, and discoverability.
The Receipt Behind the Reward: A Payroll and Tax Audit for Employee Recognition Programs
Compliance Resources

The Receipt Behind the Reward: A Payroll and Tax Audit for Employee Recognition Programs

A twenty-five dollar gift card handed out at a Friday stand-up rarely feels like a payroll event, yet that is exactly what it is. This audit walks mid-size employers through inventorying recognition spend, testing de minimis assumptions, tracing vendor responsibilities, and closing the state-level gaps that turn appreciation into an unplanned liability.
When the Channel Is the Record: Preserving HR Conversations That Were Built to Disappear
Compliance Resources

When the Channel Is the Record: Preserving HR Conversations That Were Built to Disappear

HR investigations, manager coaching, and employee complaints increasingly unfold in Slack, Teams, and text threads rather than email. This guide outlines how mid-size employers can identify custodians, suspend auto-deletion, capture context proportionately, and train managers before a casual message becomes Exhibit A.
Calibration Is a Compliance Control: Screening Review Comments Before They Become Litigation Risk
Compliance Resources

Calibration Is a Compliance Control: Screening Review Comments Before They Become Litigation Risk

Performance reviews are operational documents until discovery makes them evidence. A pre-calibration audit helps HR teams identify subjective, inconsistent, or coded manager language before final ratings create avoidable litigation risk.
Every Reference Call Is a Deposition Waiting to Happen: A Manager's Protocol for What Gets Said After the Paycheck Stops
Compliance Resources

Every Reference Call Is a Deposition Waiting to Happen: A Manager's Protocol for What Gets Said After the Paycheck Stops

A six-minute reference call can become a multi-year exhibit. This protocol gives managers a defensible script, a documentation standard, and a clear answer when a prospective employer asks for more than dates and titles.
Paper Trail, Meet Audit Trail: Building a Defensible I-9 Self-Review
Compliance Resources

Paper Trail, Meet Audit Trail: Building a Defensible I-9 Self-Review

An I-9 binder is evidence, not a filing cabinet curiosity. This compliance-first self-review protocol helps US employers inventory, correct, and maintain Form I-9 records without wandering into document abuse or disparate treatment.
The Exit Package With a Trapdoor: Auditing Seven Severance Clauses Before the Signature
Compliance Resources

The Exit Package With a Trapdoor: Auditing Seven Severance Clauses Before the Signature

A severance agreement is often prepared under deadline pressure, signed in a single sitting, and trusted to transfer risk. That trust is misplaced unless the release itself is enforceable. This review examines seven clauses that most often create openings for challenge and offers practical redlines and a pre-signature checklist for HR.
What Your Job Posting Will Say in Court: A Compliance Review Before Publication
Compliance Resources

What Your Job Posting Will Say in Court: A Compliance Review Before Publication

Job descriptions are usually drafted as recruiting copy and filed as afterthoughts. In practice, they become exhibits in accommodation disputes, exemption audits, and pay transparency challenges. This review sets out a pre-posting discipline for separating essential functions from preferences and tightening qualifications language before publication.
Before the Records Request Lands: A Wage-and-Hour Response Drill for Mid-Size Employers
Compliance Resources

Before the Records Request Lands: A Wage-and-Hour Response Drill for Mid-Size Employers

A wage-and-hour inquiry rarely begins with a subpoena. It begins with a phone call, an email, or a walk-in visitor asking for payroll records. This protocol maps the first 48 hours so mid-size employers can preserve evidence, assign ownership, and avoid turning a routine request into a broader compliance problem.
The Request Is the Beginning, Not the Verdict: A Compliance Discipline for ADA Accommodations
Compliance Resources

The Request Is the Beginning, Not the Verdict: A Compliance Discipline for ADA Accommodations

Accommodation requests rarely arrive with a form, a diagnosis, or a clear remedy attached. This article outlines a compliance-first method for US employers to run the ADA interactive process as a documented dialogue rather than a paperwork exercise.
Stabilize, Preserve, Protect: A Triage Protocol for the First Two Days of a Harassment Complaint
Compliance Resources

Stabilize, Preserve, Protect: A Triage Protocol for the First Two Days of a Harassment Complaint

A harassment policy is only as strong as the process that follows a report. This triage protocol focuses on the critical early window—intake, interim protection, evidence preservation, and anti-retaliation controls—so employers can respond promptly without improvising their way into liability.
Due Diligence Before Deployment: A Compliance Review Framework for AI-Assisted Hiring
Compliance Resources

Due Diligence Before Deployment: A Compliance Review Framework for AI-Assisted Hiring

When a résumé screener or video analyzer filters a candidate out, the vendor supplies the tool but the employer supplies the liability. This framework gives HR leaders a structured pre-deployment review—covering bias evidence, candidate notice, adverse-action documentation, contract terms, and audit trails—so automated hiring decisions remain defensible.
Ask Before They Answer with a Resignation: A Working Framework for Stay Interviews
Workplace Expertise

Ask Before They Answer with a Resignation: A Working Framework for Stay Interviews

Exit interviews document history; stay interviews shape it. This article lays out a practical, low-lift program for identifying which employees to talk to, what to ask, and how managers can turn those conversations into retention action before a two-week notice ever lands.
Contractor Today, Employee Tomorrow: A Manager's Field Guide to Worker Classification
Compliance Resources

Contractor Today, Employee Tomorrow: A Manager's Field Guide to Worker Classification

Contingent talent now sits alongside salaried staff in most workplaces, but the legal line between the two is drawn by regulators, not org charts. This guide walks through the federal and state tests that govern classification and offers a practical framework HR teams can apply before a misclassification claim finds them first.
Automated Compliance Is a Promise, Not a Product: What HR Software Can and Cannot Do for You
Workplace Expertise

Automated Compliance Is a Promise, Not a Product: What HR Software Can and Cannot Do for You

Vendors promise hands-free compliance, but automation has hard limits that buyers discover too late. This candid evaluation separates what platforms genuinely deliver from what still demands human judgment, with a due diligence checklist for your next software purchase.
Follow the Money, Find the Phantom: Building an Internal Payroll Audit That Actually Works
Compliance Resources

Follow the Money, Find the Phantom: Building an Internal Payroll Audit That Actually Works

Ghost employees rarely announce themselves; they hide in the ordinary rhythm of payroll cycles. This guide walks HR and finance teams through a joint audit process, the warning signs that warrant a closer look, and the legal obligations that activate the moment fraud is suspected.
Listening Before the Goodbye: How Mid-Size Employers Can Catch Problems While They're Still Fixable
Workplace Expertise

Listening Before the Goodbye: How Mid-Size Employers Can Catch Problems While They're Still Fixable

Exit interviews document failure; they rarely prevent it. This piece outlines a practical continuous listening framework — pulse surveys, stay conversations, and manager cadences — that mid-size US employers can run without a dedicated people-analytics team.
Compliance Resources

When the Range Goes Live: A Compliance-First Audit Before Your Salaries See Daylight

Salary range disclosure laws in California, Colorado, New York, and beyond are pushing employers to publish pay bands for the first time. Here is a step-by-step compensation audit designed to be completed before the posting goes live — not after the complaints arrive.
The Liability Lives on the Front Line: Why Supervisor Training Is Your Real Compliance Program
Compliance Resources

The Liability Lives on the Front Line: Why Supervisor Training Is Your Real Compliance Program

Companies retain sophisticated employment counsel, yet the decisions that generate most workplace law exposure are made by front-line supervisors in ordinary moments. BHI ERC makes the case that manager-level compliance training is not a training expense—it is liability management.