The Labor-Employment Law Audit (ELLA)
The Employment Labor Law Audit™ (ELLA®) is designed to help your organization focus attention on its HR management practices, policies, procedures, processes and results by providing you with a structured and systematic series of questions about key compliance, risk management topics, internal audit and human resource management. As a human resource audit process, ELLA® is designed to help your organization identify potential and actual problem areas, help assess the effectiveness of human resource management activities, help assess weaknesses in internal control processes human resources and help assess strategic human capital and compliance risks. ELLA® also provides suggestions for corrective action.
Importantly, ELLA® considers risks and opportunities related to human capital from an enterprise risk management (ERM) perspective. In other words, ELLA® takes a holistic approach in assessing human capital risks and tries to indicate the interrelationships and interactions between HR and other management and organizational issues.
Recognizing that no two employers are the same and that practices, policies, and processes that may be appropriate and effective for multinational corporations may not be for small and medium-sized businesses or nonprofit organizations, ELLA® is designed to help your organization to develop and adapt employment practices, policies, procedures and processes to meet its specific needs. ELLA® first gives your organization the “right” questions to ask about various employment practice issues; it then helps you determine the optimal response for your organization.
To help your organization manage its human resources, ELLA® is divided into a series of Profiles. These profiles consider important areas of human resource management and labor practice 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 a general description of the area being examined. Its purpose is to give you basic information about why this particular topic is important.
2) The Questionnaire, the most important section of ELLA®, examines your activities and results of human resource management and employment practices. It is designed to give you the right questions about each job practice area. It asks questions about how your organization addresses and reacts to critical issues. With the Questionnaire, your organization will collect data and information that will help it: 1) determine the current and future applicability of various labor laws and human resource management best practices; 2) diagnostic weaknesses; 3) analyze the results of employment practices; and 4) prioritize corrective actions.
3) 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 affect your organization’s well-being and ability to achieve organizational objectives. The Analysis provides information and insights on how to improve employee relations and reduce risks related to your organization’s human capital.
4) The Reference List section provides links to additional data, information and resources. This Section will help you learn more about a specific topic and help you tailor your analysis to meet the specific needs of your organization. In addition, this Section provides the email addresses of ELLA® subject matter experts. These experts can help you conduct your audit, evaluate your findings, and develop corrective measures.
ELLA covers critical areas of employment practices, including;
Strategic and Organizing, Recruitment, Selection and Hiring, The Application Process, Reference Checking and Response, Immigration Issues, Americans with Disabilities Act, Employee Handbooks, Positive Employee Relations, Diversity Management, Location Discrimination of Work, Affirmative Action and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.
Additional Areas Covered: Drug-Free Workplace, Job Performance Management, Retention Issues, Conflict Resolution, Termination Process, Downsizing, Layoffs and Plant Closures, Unemployment Insurance Management, Employee Benefits Plan Compliance employees, leaves of absence and FMLA, COBRA and HIPAA. Wage and hour management, workplace safety management, records management, notices and information, governance and ethics, and benchmarking.