Excessive tardiness and absences, no-shows, abrupt exits and short stints: An HR audit may not prevent every instance of these, but CDA Employment Practices Analyst Michelle Coker says it can go a long way — not just in reducing employee turnover but preserving relationships and reducing risk.
Coker notes her recent conversations with member dentists share a theme.
“Aside from the headache or losing a recent hire, the problem is, the employers haven’t followed onboarding protocols,” Coker says. “They haven’t shared policies and set expectations with their employees, don’t have all the onboarding and performance documentation and haven’t audited timecards for compliance.” Some employer dentists are now facing employees who, because they know their legal rights, have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner.
Coker recommends every employer-dentist conduct an HR audit, which typically reviews five key areas of employment law for noncompliance: timekeeping, wage statements, workplace policies, recruitment/hiring and employee records. Here are general guidelines and links to relevant CDA resources to help employers conduct an HR audit in the dental practice.
Auditing timekeeping records: Meal periods, ‘off the clock’ work
State and federal laws require that employers maintain an accurate record of their nonexempt employees’ work hours and compensation for at least four years.
Review employees’ time periodically, especially early in the employment relationship, to ensure that they are accurately recording the start and end of their meal periods. Time records should show the minimum 30-minute meal period was provided no later than four hours and 59 minutes into a nonexempt employee’s workday. As a best practice, employers should review meal and rest break policies and discuss any barriers to employees taking compliant breaks.
Timekeeping practices must also capture overtime, “off the clock” or “de minimis” time. Employees who routinely work off the clock generally must be paid for their off-the-clock work. This situation might occur when an employee arrives ahead of scheduled work hours to open the office, prepare for patients, review records or participate in a morning huddle. At the end of the day, the employee might stay past scheduled work hours to handle closing tasks. Employees should be paid for all hours worked, not just scheduled time; if employees are currently performing off-the-clock work, employers should be paying their employees for this time.
Auditing wage statements: Paid sick leave balances and other required information
California law requires employers to include specific information on employees’ wage statements and imposes financial penalties on employers who are out of compliance.
Employers must know the legal requirements for compliant wage statements as defined by Labor Code Section 226. Employers who use a payroll company to prepare wage statements are responsible for providing the payroll company with all information that the wage statement must include. Generally, payroll companies are not responsible for omissions or errors.
The law also requires paid sick leave balances be included on wage statements. Employers should verify that paid sick leave and time-off limits or “caps” are in place and that employees are not earning more than the employer’s policies indicate. If an employee were to earn more time than allotted by an employer policy, the employer cannot take this time away from the employee.
Auditing workplace policies: Signed acknowledgments, current employee manual
Certain state and federal laws require that employers have written policies in place as well as employees’ signed acknowledgements that they received and understand those policies. Ideally, new employees should receive a copy of the practices policies, with time to review, on day one or two of employment.
While employers are not required to develop and offer an employee manual, Coker recommends every practice have one. Because laws change annually, employers should review and update their manuals or policies, distribute any new or updated policies to employees and obtain new acknowledgments from employees.
Member dentists can use CDA’s employee manual template or build their manual using the Employee Manual Generator developed by employment specialists and attorneys at HR for Health. The content is regularly reviewed for compliance with California and federal laws.
Auditing recruitment and hiring practices: Applications, new hire forms, job descriptions
Employers should audit hiring practices annually to ensure that they are not requesting information that California law prohibits, such as prior salary or criminal history.
Use California-specific applications, obtain signatures before conducting any reference checks and provide written conditional offers of employment before performing a background check. State and federal obligations to follow, such as completing new employee forms and providing access to legally required pamphlets to new employees on their first day of employment.
Coker says job descriptions are an important but often overlooked document in the HR audit. “A job’s essential functions may look different today than they did when the employee was hired,” she says. As the dental practice grows, the employees’ duties can change. An annual review could reveal inconsistencies between what a job description states and what the employee does.
CDA has new hire toolkits, a sample meal and rest break policy and waiver, a California-compliant employment application and other hiring and recruitment policies and forms just for member dentists.
Auditing employee records: Performance reviews, current licensure, required training
“Document, document, document,” Coker stresses. employee records, if kept up to date, can be invaluable for preventing a frivolous lawsuit. Just like with patient records, maintain accurate employment records with signed required forms and acknowledgements. Employee information to document and maintain include: feedback and performance reviews; job descriptions; current licensure; certificates of mandatory training; requests for reasonable accommodation; disciplinary actions; and hiring/termination records.
CDA resources explain more on employee records requirements and how long specific documents must be retained.
Member dentists can view all the employment resources linked in this article and dozens more and sign in to start using them.