Every guide, lawyer-reviewed.
Plain-English playbooks for employers and HR teams. Each one cites official sources and gets re-checked on a schedule — the review date is on every page.
Employee Handbooks
Handbook Policies the NLRB Keeps Striking Down
The handbook rules that violate the NLRA in non-union workplaces — pay secrecy, overbroad confidentiality, civility codes — and the Stericycle standard.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Employee Handbooks
The Annual Handbook Update Checklist
The yearly handbook review — what changed in law, what changed in practice, the NLRA pass, and the re-acknowledgment cycle.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Employee Handbooks
State Handbook Addenda: Policies That Can't Be National
Which handbook policies must vary by state — leave, final pay, breaks, monitoring notices — and how to structure the addenda.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Employee Handbooks
The At-Will Disclaimer: Getting It Right
Drafting the at-will disclaimer that actually holds — required elements, placement, the Montana exception, and the failure cases.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Employee Handbooks
What Belongs in an Employee Handbook
The policies a handbook legally needs, the promises it must not make, and the structure that survives growth and litigation.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 10 min read
Workplace Safety (OSHA)
Building a Safety Program: OSHA's Recommended Practices
The seven elements of OSHA's recommended safety program — and the build order that fits a small business.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Workplace Safety (OSHA)
OSHA Penalties and the General Duty Clause
OSHA's penalty structure — serious, willful, repeated, per-day failure-to-abate — and how the General Duty Clause reaches unregulated hazards.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Workplace Safety (OSHA)
OSHA Inspections: What to Expect and How to Respond
The OSHA inspection walkthrough — priorities, warrants, the walkaround, interviews, and the 15-working-day contest deadline.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Workplace Safety (OSHA)
OSHA's Reporting Deadlines: 8 Hours, 24 Hours
The report-to-OSHA rules every employer has: fatalities in 8 hours, hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses in 24.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Workplace Safety (OSHA)
OSHA Recordkeeping: The 300 Log, 300A and 301
The OSHA injury records: what's recordable, the 300/300A/301 forms, the February–April posting, and electronic submission.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Benefits & ACA
Benefits When an Employee Leaves
The complete benefits offboarding sequence — health coverage end-dates, COBRA, FSAs vs HSAs, retirement accounts, and conversion rights.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Benefits & ACA
QSEHRA and ICHRA: Health Benefits Without a Group Plan
QSEHRA vs ICHRA — who qualifies, contribution limits, notice rules, and how each interacts with the ACA and marketplace subsidies.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Benefits & ACA
The Benefits Notices Employers Actually Owe
Every required benefits notice — SPD, SBC, CHIP, Part D, marketplace — with deadlines, and the annual calendar that keeps them filed.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Benefits & ACA
The ACA Employer Mandate: 50 Employees and What Follows
The ACA employer mandate — the 50-FTE count, the two ESRP penalties, affordability safe harbors, and 1095-C reporting.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 10 min read
Benefits & ACA
COBRA for Employers: The Timeline That Runs Itself
The COBRA deadline chain — 30/14/60 — qualifying events, coverage periods, and the notice failures that cost $110 a day.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Remote Work & Policies
Which State's Laws Apply to a Remote Employee?
The choice-of-law framework for remote employment — wage law, taxes, unemployment, comp and discrimination, domain by domain.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Remote Work & Policies
Tracking Remote Employee Hours Under the FLSA
Non-exempt remote time under the FLSA — the reasonable-reporting process, after-hours work, breaks, and monitoring limits.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Remote Work & Policies
The Remote Work Policy: What It Must Cover
The clauses a remote work policy legally needs — eligibility, location, hours, expenses, equipment, security, and the ones to avoid.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Remote Work & Policies
Expense Reimbursement: What Remote Work Makes Mandatory
Which states mandate reimbursing remote-work expenses — California Labor Code 2802, Illinois, and the policy that satisfies them.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Remote Work & Policies
Hiring Out-of-State Employees: The Registration Checklist
Every registration one out-of-state remote hire triggers — withholding, unemployment, workers' comp, notices — in order.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Discrimination & Harassment
Retaliation: The Claim That Outlives the Original Complaint
Why retaliation outpaces every other EEOC charge — protected activity, adverse action, causation, and managing after a complaint.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Discrimination & Harassment
Reasonable Accommodation: The ADA Interactive Process
Running the ADA interactive process — recognizing requests, medical documentation limits, choosing accommodations, and the undue hardship bar.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Discrimination & Harassment
Workplace Investigations: A Defensible Process
How to run a workplace investigation that holds up — intake, interviews, credibility, findings, and the Faragher-Ellerth defense.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 10 min read
Discrimination & Harassment
Responding to an EEOC Charge
What happens after an EEOC charge is filed — the process, the position statement, mediation, and the mistakes that convert charges into lawsuits.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Discrimination & Harassment
Protected Classes Under Federal Law
Every federally protected class, the statute behind it, and the employee-count thresholds that decide coverage.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Wages & Overtime
Unpaid Overtime Claims: Off-the-Clock and Rounding
Where unpaid-overtime claims come from — off-the-clock work, auto-deducted lunches, rounding — and the records that defend you.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Wages & Overtime
Salary Deductions: What Breaks the Exemption
The seven deductions the FLSA allows from exempt salaries, the ones that destroy exemptions, and the safe-harbor policy.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Wages & Overtime
Independent Contractor or Employee? The Tests That Decide
The IRS, DOL and state ABC tests for contractor status — and what reclassification costs when you guess wrong.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Wages & Overtime
Overtime Pay: Calculating the Regular Rate
How the FLSA regular rate actually works — what goes in, what stays out, and the calculations per 29 CFR 778.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Wages & Overtime
Exempt vs Non-Exempt: The Classification Guide
The three-part FLSA exemption test — salary basis, $684/week, and the duties that actually qualify.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 10 min read
Hiring & Onboarding
Interview Questions You Legally Can't Ask
The interview questions that create discrimination evidence — and the lawful versions that get you the same information.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Hiring & Onboarding
New Hire Paperwork: The Complete Checklist
The complete day-one stack: I-9, W-4, state new-hire reporting, wage notices, and benefits deadlines — in order.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Hiring & Onboarding
Form I-9 Compliance: Deadlines, Documents and Penalties
I-9 deadlines (day one and three business days), acceptable documents, retention math, and audit exposure — per USCIS.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Hiring & Onboarding
Background Checks: The FCRA Compliance Guide
The FCRA's exact sequence for employment background checks — disclosure, authorization, pre-adverse and adverse action — per FTC guidance.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 9 min read
Hiring & Onboarding
Offer Letters That Don't Become Contracts
What belongs in an offer letter, the phrases that create contract claims, and the at-will language that protects you.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Leave (FMLA, PTO & Sick)
Paid Sick Leave Laws by State
Every mandatory sick leave state — accrual rates, caps, thresholds — verified, including the 2025 ballot laws and Missouri's repeal.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 10 min read
Leave (FMLA, PTO & Sick)
PTO Payout Laws by State
Mandatory-payout states, policy states, and where use-it-or-lose-it fails — verified state by state.
Reviewed Sep 1, 2026 · 8 min read
Leave (FMLA, PTO & Sick)
Can You Terminate an Employee on FMLA Leave?
When a termination during FMLA leave is lawful, who carries the burden of proof, and the retaliation trap — per 29 CFR 825.216 and 825.220.
Reviewed Aug 31, 2026 · 8 min read
Termination & Layoffs
Severance Agreements That Hold Up
What to offer, what the release must say, and the OWBPA requirements that make a 40+ waiver enforceable.
Reviewed Aug 31, 2026 · 11 min read
Termination & Layoffs
Final Paycheck Laws by State
Deadlines for fired and quitting employees, PTO payout rules, and late-pay penalties — every state, verified against primary sources.
Reviewed Aug 31, 2026 · 9 min read
Termination & Layoffs
Terminating an Employee Without the Lawsuit
Documentation, final pay in all 50 states, COBRA clocks, severance releases, and the eight mistakes that put employers in court.
Reviewed Aug 31, 2026 · 14 min read