For urban organizations

California HR compliance check-up

The check-up measures your HR paperwork and practices against the California rules that apply at your size, then gives you a ranked list of fixes. It is built for urban organizations of 10 to 150 people: startups, minority-owned businesses and nonprofits where HR is someone’s second job.

What gets reviewed

  • Classification: every contractor against the ABC test, every salaried role against the exempt rules.
  • Pay practices: wage statements, daily overtime, meal and rest breaks, final pay, paid sick leave.
  • Postings and pay scales: ranges in postings at 15 employees, the on-request rule at every size.
  • Leave: CFRA, pregnancy disability, bereavement and reproductive loss leave, and Bay Area city rules.
  • Training: harassment prevention records for supervisors and staff.
  • Safety plans: the Injury and Illness Prevention Program and the workplace violence prevention plan.
  • Files: I-9s, personnel files, offer letters and handbook acknowledgments.

How it works

  1. A free 20-minute consult to confirm headcount, locations and scope.
  2. You send the documents on a short list. Most companies pull them in a day.
  3. About a week of review.
  4. A working session to walk the findings, assign owners and set deadlines.

What you get

A written report with every finding ranked by exposure: items carrying penalties or back pay first, policy updates last. Each item names the fix, the owner and the deadline. You keep the report and any templates produced for the fixes.

When we’re done

  • You know every California rule that applies at your headcount, and whether you meet it.
  • Every gap has a fix, an owner and a date, ranked so penalty and back-pay items come first.
  • You can answer a wage claim, an agency letter or a diligence request with documents, not guesses.
Sample compliance check-up findings ranked by exposure
What the report looks like. Illustrative sample with a fictional company. Yours is built on your own documents.

What leaving it costs

  • Treating an employee as a contractor, willfully: $5,000 to $15,000 per violation, and $10,000 to $25,000 each for a pattern, before back wages and taxes (Labor Code 226.8).
  • Wage statements missing required items: $50 per employee for the first pay period and $100 for each one after, up to $4,000 per employee (Labor Code 226(e)).
  • Final pay paid late: up to 30 days of that employee’s wages (Labor Code 203).

Figures come from the statutes cited. What applies to your company depends on your facts.

Price

Every company engagement is quoted in writing after a free 20-minute consult, so the price matches your headcount and scope. The quote does not change based on who asks.

A posting audit fee paid in the prior 30 days is credited in full toward the check-up.

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