Employers in Pennsylvania should be aware of regulatory news as a core component of their regulatory risk strategies. On February 22, 2024, the PA Office of the Attorney General and the US Department of Labor announced a partnership to both “Strengthen Cooperation and Enhance Enforcement” of Labor laws in Pennsylvania.
What Does the Partnership between the US Department of Labor and PA Attorney General Mean for Employers in PA?
This means that an already highly active regulatory agency – the Wage and Hour Division of the Dept of Labor – is potentially going to become more active. Employers in Pennsylvania should evaluate their practices for staying up to date with changes. More than that, Employers should evaluate how effective their current practices are to ensure they remain in compliance.
So how do small companies effectively stay in front of these challenges?
Compliance is difficult to navigate for large companies; however, these companies can employ whole teams of HR professionals and attorneys to ensure compliance.
For small companies, the challenge is all the more difficult. Attorney’s fees are costly and smaller companies often don’t have the resources in house to field teams of HR professionals – if they even have an HR manager on staff.
Nevertheless, avoiding fines, penalties, and damages for failing to comply with labor laws should remain a priority. Penalties can be both punitive and significant. And the best insurance policies for these type of lawsuits only cover defense costs for wage and hour claims. Settlements and judgments can easily reach mid-six figures.
Front line risk management is the answer here, but can small companies even afford these services?
Risk Management Services for Small Business
Where can employers who want to stay compliant – whether to avoid penalties or to create an employee friendly culture – can often find resources in existing relationships.
Many payroll companies and insurance brokers are well informed and can keep you up to date with changes. If your partners provide this service, you’re most likely already enrolled in regular email updates and searching for those is a good place to start.
If the companies you partner with provide this information, they may also be able to set you up with internal resources at an additional cost. But be careful about signing up for these programs – they are often expensive and make significant promises, but the onus is still very much on you to implement necessary changes. Many of these programs are big on information and low on implementation support.
How We’re Different
At Stillwell Risk Partners, we help our clients in a different way. Instead of telling you what we will do for you – we work with potential new clients up front and at no cost to show you how we identify, support, implement, train, and evaluate the policies, programs, and processes that we support.
Over a 45 – 60 day period, we’ll provide you with real work and tangible results. We’re so confident in the value we provide that you can evaluate the fit to work with us before paying a dime.
Next Steps
If you’re ready to evaluate your Fair Labor Standards Act compliance – or if there’s another area of your business that we can help with – please reach out to us at contact@stillwellriskpartners.com or schedule an appointment here.