Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Analyze laws, regulations, and policies applicable to various human resource situations
• Use data to inform risk mitigation

Scenario

Human resource professionals are responsible for responding to and resolving issues that involve employees and management. A key element in resolving issues is identifying the source of the issue and trends that may impact the issue. In this scenario you are an HR analyst in an 800-employee telecom service company. Your company has a varied workforce and runs three shifts each day. The company is approximately eight years old and has a management team with mixed experience.

Your manager, who is the director of Human Resources, recently received a Department of Labor complaint. The complaint claims that employees are not paid properly for overtime in any area of the company and states that employees have brought their concerns to management repeatedly with no resolution. Your manager has asked you to investigate the root cause of the complaint. You know that you will begin your investigation with the payroll department.

Directions

In the first half of this project, you will investigate the complaint that was received by the company. The complaint states that employees have complained about unfair wages. Begin your analysis by reviewing the Employee Job Description located in the Supporting Materials section. Your next step is to determine if the employees should be classified as exempt or nonexempt. Use section two of the FLSA Designation Worksheet to support your classification. Note that the minimum salary was recently changed to $35,568. To access the worksheet, open the link located in the What to Submit section.

You will continue your investigation by analyzing the Timesheet Records document located in the Supporting Materials section to see if the employees were fairly compensated based on your determination of their classification. When you have gathered all necessary information, you will present your findings and recommendations in a risk memo. You will need to summarize your findings and the potential risks for noncompliance with management.

Lastly, you will examine the section of the Project One Employee Handbook Sample found in the Supporting Materials section that addresses overtime compensation for employees. You will analyze the section for gaps related to the employee complaint that you are investigating. You will draft a memo to your manager to document the errors that you found, explain why these errors conflict with laws and regulations, and recommend corrections or revisions to that section of the handbook.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Complaint Investigation: Determine if the employees are exempt or nonexempt utilizing the required worksheet.
2. Risk Memo:
   1. Present Findings: Explain if employees should be considered exempt or nonexempt.
   2. Employee Pay: Discuss conclusions as to whether the employees are being paid correctly or not. Use examples to support your conclusions.
   3. Investigating Risk: Describe the potential risks to the company if the complaint is not addressed or if there is insufficient data to support the answers.
3. Handbook Analysis:
   1. Gaps: Analyze the employee handbook to identify gaps related to the employee complaint. In your memo, document the specific handbook error.
   2. Policy Violations: Explain why the current handbook policy conflicts with laws and regulations by providing examples to support your ideas.
4. Handbook Recommendations: Recommend corrections or revisions to the handbook for addressing the identified error.
5. Risk Mitigation: Describe the action that the organization can take to mitigate future risk in addition to revising the handbook. Consider existing policies and training approaches and how HR can contribute to this.

HRM 225 Project One Employee Handbook Sample

Section 4.1 Employee Classifications

It is the intent of ABC Company to provide definitions of employment classifications so that employees understand their employment status and benefits eligibility. These classifications do not guarantee employment for any specified period of time. The right to terminate the employment relationship at will at any time is retained by both the employee and ABC Company.

All employees are designated as either nonexempt or exempt under state and federal wage and hour laws:

• Nonexempt employees are employees whose work is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). They are exempt from the law's requirements concerning minimum wage and overtime.
• Exempt employees are generally executives, managers, professionals, administrative or outside sales staff who are not exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA. Exempt employees hold jobs that meet the standards and criteria established under the FLSA by the U.S. Department of Labor.

ABC Company has established the following categories for both nonexempt and exempt employees:

• Regular full-time employees are not in a temporary status and are regularly scheduled to work the company's full-time schedule. Generally, they are eligible for the full benefits package, subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of each benefit program.
• Regular part-time employees are not in a temporary status and are regularly scheduled to work less than the full-time schedule but at least 23 hours each week. Regular part-time employees are eligible for some of the benefits offered by the company, subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of each benefit program.