Online course for HR professionals

HR professionals of any company are entrusted with the task of managing the employees in an effective manner and improving their performance. A stepping stone in the career of an HR professional in USA is a certification awarded to those professionals who have a command over various strategies and policy-making aspects of workforce management. This is called the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification. There are various concepts and policies that need to be understood by an HR professional for cracking the SPHR examination.

There are online platforms which offer complete HR content covering all the relevant topics. Some have been mentioned here.

Discrimination and Harassment

Discrimination Training covers the fundamentals of discrimination and harassment in workplace which enables HR professionals to understand the types of sexual discrimination and the laws formulated to address the problems of discrimination and harassment. The HR professionals get enlightened about application of federal laws to deal with discrimination and harassment, conducting internal investigations, addressing discrimination effectively, developing policies and procedures to deal with cases of discrimination and harassment and determining and enforcing codes of conduct for employees to prevent discrimination and harassment.

Filing Employer Information Report

Employer Information Report or EEO-1 is required to be submitted annually with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee. This report comprising of race, ethnicity and gender data is used by the federal agencies to analyse the representation of women and minority workers in the companies and determine the level of compliance with the anti-discrimination laws. The topic of EEO-1Reporting include various aspects such as preparing the data, knowing who must file the report, the way the federal agencies use the information, the time period in which the companies must report the data, reviewing procedures and much more.

Disabilities

HR professionals must be aware of the various provisions of ADA - American With Disabilities Act which prevents employers from discriminating against persons with qualified disabilities during hiring, job application, compensation, training, recruitments, leave and layoffs. The topic covers everything from fundamentals of the act to various complexities involved. 

Important information for HR professionals

HR professionals not only need to extract the best performance from the employees but also need to comply with a myriad of rules, regulations and laws to avoid trouble with the law enforcement agencies. For this, an HR professional must be aware of the various legal requirements and obligations along with the frequent changes made to them from time to time. Some of the various Human ResourcesRules & Regulations requiring total compliance have been discussed here.

AAP

The Affirmative ActionPlan or AAP is a set of policies which seeks to provide equal employment opportunities without discrimination on the basis of gender, race, minority community, physical disability and other less privileged sections of the society. The HR professionals must have a good understanding of the various federal regulations which govern the affirmative action plan for companies. They must also be conversant with the affirmative action plan preparation process, OFCCP audit process, writing affirmative action plan, AAP narrative reports, etc. All this and more enables an HR professional to help the company in effectively complying with the affirmative action requirements and pass an OFCCP audit.

FLSA

Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA is labor law in the United States that gives certain rights to workers such as right to a minimum wage and time and a half overtime pay for people working over forty hours a week. The HR professionals require FLSA Training to ensure compliance. The training involves learning about exempt and non-exempt worker classifications, legal risks of misclassification, FLSA rules for unpaid interns, Independent Contractor or Full-Time Employee Classification, overtime rules, etc.

An HR professional needs to regularly review and update the HR Employee Handbook containing information on personnel rules, policies, services, benefits, etc. This is because frequent changes made to the labor laws must reflect in the handbook. Thus, the HR professional must be aware of any kind of change made to any law at all times.  

Essential topics for getting international HR credentials

HR professionals working in multinational companies need requisite skills and knowledge to operate in a global marketplace transcending countries and continents. Their skills and knowledge must be validated by a credential that makes them eligible to operate across international lines. The GPHR - Global Professional in Human Resources certification acts as the proof of an HR professional’s expertise in dealing with international HR responsibilities. Online courses are available for HR professionals wanting to take this examination regarding various aspects of employee management in the international scenario.

Topics and objective
Content includes global HR strategy and measures, global strategic management, global workforce planning, global labour regulations, global performance management, global team building and much more.

The objective of the courses is to enable the HR professionals to understand various guidelines and methods required to manage global HR tasks. The courses intend to help in acquiring essential skills required for cracking GPHR examination.

A comprehensive understanding of various laws and regulations governing the management of employees in a company is also essential for HR professionals taking the GHPR examination. An example has been described here.

Laws governing leaves for employees An HR professional is required to process applications of Leaves of Absence of the company’s employees according to the provisions of various laws such as FMLA, ADA, state and local laws.

FMLA - Family and Medical Leave Act is a federal legislation enacted in 1993 which provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave to eligible employees. The act also provides protection to the employees against termination and enables them to retain health benefits during the period of leave. The HR professional must be aware of the legal definition of various types of serious health conditions covered under this act and must be able to determine the employee’s eligibility to take leave under FMLA. The HR professional must be competent enough to draft a company policy which ensures FMLA Compliance as required by law.

Some Legal obligations of HR professionals

Information is the key in the modern world. This is also true for HR professionals to be on the right side of the law. Thus, the HR professional of any company operating in the United States of America must have adequate information and training regarding the various legal compliance requirements of companies with respect to the employees. Right information and training helps HR professionals in overcoming all kinds of challenges and avoid legal tangles. Some of the many legal requirements have been mentioned here.

EEO-1 
EEO-1 - Reporting - Equal Employment Opportunity -1 Reporting is a report which needs to be filed by companies annually with EEOC and OFCCP. This report enables EEOC to determine the employment pattern in a company on the basis of ethnicity, race and gender. The OFCCP uses this report to select companies for compliance reviews. The HR professionals must be aware of all the nuances of filing EEO-1 reports and the ways in which EEOC and OFCCP interpret the reports to detect workplace discrimination and determine whether or not to go for a compliance audit.

Ensuring diversity
The Workplace Diversity Program seeks to create an inclusive workplace by assimilating people of various ethnicities, races, religious beliefs, gender, economic status, language, etc. The HR professional must be able to build and assess the company’s diversity and inclusion programs, develop ways to expand the diversity in the candidates and many other aspects of ensuring diversity.

Employee benefits 
An important benefit for disabled workers is called Reasonable Accomodation. Reasonable accommodation requires companies to make suitable changes in their job profiles and work environment to allow a disabled but qualified person to apply for a job and perform functions in the company without any problem. HR professionals are required under law to develop written procedures to provide reasonable accommodation.

I-9 law
I-9 law requires companies to verify the identity and work eligibility of foreign nationals before employing them. HR professionals must ensure complete I-9 Compliance to prevent fines and penalties. This is achieved by regularly reviewing I-9 documents, I-9 forms, auditing current I-9 forms of employees, etc.