The Employment-Labor Law Audit (ELLA)

The Employment-Labor Law Audit™ (ELLA®) is designed to help your organization focus its attention on its human resource management practices, policies, procedures, processes, and outcomes by providing you with a structured and systematic series of questions about key compliance, risk management, internal auditing, and human resource management issues. As an HR auditing process, ELLA® is designed to help your organization identify potential and actual problem areas, help assess the effectiveness of HR management activities, help assess weaknesses in HR internal control processes, and help assess human capital strategic and compliance related risks. ELLA® additionally provides suggestions for corrective action.

Importantly, ELLA® considers human capital related risks and opportunities from an enterprise risk management (ERM) perspective. That is, ELLA® takes a holistic approach in assessing human capital risks and attempts to indicate the interrelationships and interactions between HR and other management and organizational issues.

Recognizing that no two employers are alike and that the practices, policies, and processes that may be appropriate and effective for multinational corporations may not be appropriate for small and medium-size companies or non-profits, ELLA® is designed to help your organization develop and tailor employment practices, policies, procedures, and processes to meet your specific needs. ELLA® first provides your organization with the “right” questions to ask about various employment practices issues; then helps you determine the optimal answer for your organization.

To help your organization manage its human resources, ELLA® is divided into a series of Profiles. These Profiles consider major areas of human resource management and employment practices liability risk management. Within each Profile you will find three sections: The Introduction, the Questionnaire, and the Analysis. In many Profiles, you will also find a list of References.

1) The Introduction provides an overview of the area being examined. Its purpose is to provide you with background information about why this particular issue is important.

2) The Questionnaire, the most important section in ELLA®, examines your human resource management and employment practices activities and outcomes. It is designed to give you the right questions to ask about each employment practice area. You ask questions about how your organization addresses and reacts to critical issues. Using the Questionnaire your organization will collect data and information that will help it: 1) determine the current and future applicability of the various employment laws and HR management best practices; 2) diagnose weaknesses; 3) analyze employment practices outcomes; and 4) prioritize corrective measures.

3) The Analysis helps you understand the organizational, financial, and legal consequences of your organization’s activities, policies, and processes, and helps you determine how these consequences impact your organization’s well-being and ability to achieve organizational objectives. The Analysis provides information and ideas on how to improve employee relations and reduce your organization’s human capital related risks.

4) The listing of References section provides links to additional data, information, and resources. This Section will help you learn more about a specific issue and help you tailor your analysis to meet the specific needs of your organization. Additionally, this Section provides the email addresses of ELLA® subject matter experts. These experts can help you conduct your audit, assess your audit findings, and develop corrective measures.

ELLA covers critical employment practices areas, including;
Strategic and Organization, Recruitment, Selection, and Hiring, The Application Process, Reference Checking and Responding, Immigration Issues, The Americans With Disabilities Act, Employee Handbooks, Positive Employee Relations, Diversity Management, Workplace Discrimination, Affirmative Action, and Workplace Sexual Harassment.

Additionally areas covered: Drug-Free Workplace, Job Performance Management, Retention Issues, Conflict Resolution, The Termination Process, Downsizing, Layoffs, and Plant Closing, Unemployment Insurance Management, Employee Benefits Plan Compliance, Leaves of Absence and FMLA, COBRA and HIPAA, Wage and Hour, Workplace Safety Management, Records, Notices, and Information Management, Governance and Ethics, and Benchmarking.