Illegal Overtime Practices. The second error that stood out from our audits was that many companies had overtime policies that did not comply with the Employment Standards Code. Depending on the size of the workforce, an employer could have a massive liability that they are not aware of. If a complaint is upheld by the Employment Standards Office an employer could be required to pay employees for all overtime from the past six months. Solutions we have introduced to prevent potential overtime claims include restructuring the workforce to make better use of staff resources without incurring overtime costs and putting in place overtime agreements that introduced alternatives to overtime pay such as banking time. #3 – Non-compliance with Human Rights Code and Employment Standards Code Being an employer is challenging, especially when there are so many rules set out in the Alberta Human Rights Act and the Alberta Employment Standards Code. The most common errors we have come across are violations of the polices on maternity and other forms of leave of absence, drug testing, and holiday and vacation pay. Violations of the Human Rights Code in particular can be costly. Employees do not need to hire a lawyer to launch an action. Complaints can be filled with the Human Rights Commission and if an employer is found to be in breach the damages award can be significant. Staff Know their Rights Being on top of employment laws has always been important. These days, the chances of any indiscretion going unnoticed are slim. In the past ten years or so we have witnessed a profound change in the level of awareness staff at every level have about their employment rights and the duties of employers. Any employee who thinks their employer’s actions violate their rights is just a few clicks away from finding the information they need to determine if they should make a complaint, and bad news spreads quickly. If an employee feels they have not been paid adequate overtime, then you can be certain every employee will soon feel the same way. An HR Audit can help identify these types of issues before anyone else does. Much more than Risk Prevention While the initial objective of the HR Audit was risk prevention, we quickly learned that there were other significant upsides. At all the companies we reviewed, the day-to-day HR management was conducted by the head of the company or someone in senior management. Inevitably, the person responsible for HR had little, if any training. Not surprisingly, managing the d...
