HR Fundamentals: A Practical 30/60/90-Day Plan for Your First 90 Days

HR Fundamentals Start With Headcount: Which Laws Apply

Most federal employment laws switch on at a headcount. Get three numbers from payroll before anything else: total employees on the payroll, employees at each location, and the states where people work, including remote employees.

Three cautions about the table

1. Each law counts differently. The EEOC explains that for Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA, an employee is counted for each week in which the employment relationship exists, whether or not the person works every day, so part-time employees count. The ACA counts full-time employees and full-time equivalents. Do not reuse one number for every law.
2. Coverage is not eligibility. A 60-person company is covered by the FMLA, but an individual employee is eligible only after 12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months, and only if the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of that employee's worksite.
3. State law often reaches smaller employers. Many state anti-discrimination, leave, and health continuation laws apply well below the federal thresholds. See our HR training by state resources and confirm the rules for every state on your list.

For background on what each statute requires, read our overview of employment law basics for HR.

Days 1 to 30: Find Out Where You Stand

The first month is assessment plus the handful of items with fixed legal deadlines. Resist the urge to rewrite the handbook.

1. Check Form I-9 compliance

Every employer must complete a Form I-9 for each person hired. USCIS guidance sets the timing: the employee completes Section 1 no later than the first day of employment, and the employer completes Section 2 within three business days of the first day of work for pay. The employee chooses which acceptable documents to present; do not ask for specific ones.

What to do now:

• Confirm you are using a current edition of the form. Check the accepted edition at USCIS.gov/I-9.
• Pull a sample of forms for current employees. Look for missing forms, blank fields, and late completion dates.
• Find out where the forms are stored. USCIS allows paper or electronic storage, on site or off site, but you must be able to present them within three business days of a government request.
• Learn the retention rule: keep each form for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.

If you find errors, do not backdate. Talk to counsel about correcting forms properly before you change them. Employers enrolled in E-Verify may be able to use the alternative procedure for examining documents remotely; confirm the conditions with USCIS first.

2. Review FLSA classification

Ask payroll for a list of every employee treated as exempt from overtime, with job title, pay, and a one-line description of what the person does. Under the U.S. Department of Labor's rules, the main white-collar exemptions generally require that the employee be paid on a salary basis, at no less than the required salary level, and perform duties that meet the test for an executive, administrative, or professional exemption. The Department is explicit that job titles do not determine exempt status.

Check the current salary level at the U.S. Department of Labor, and check your state, since several states set a higher salary threshold or a stricter duties test.

In month one, you are only looking for obvious problems: salaried employees below the salary level, "managers" who manage no one, and clerical staff treated as exempt. List them. Fixing them is a month-two project that needs leadership and usually counsel, because the method of correction affects back-pay exposure.

3. Walk the building and check the posters

The Department of Labor notes that posting requirements vary by statute and that not every employer is covered by each one. Its elaws Poster Advisor identifies which federal posters you need. Commonly required federal postings include:

• FLSA minimum wage poster, for employers with any employee subject to the FLSA
• OSHA "Job Safety and Health: It's the Law," for private employers engaged in a business affecting commerce
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act notice
• USERRA notice of rights
• EEOC "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal," posted where notices to applicants and employees are customarily posted
• FMLA poster, for covered employers. The Department of Labor states it must be displayed at all locations even if no employees there are eligible.

Federal contractors have additional postings, and every state has its own set. Check each poster against the agency's current version, and decide how remote employees will see them; the EEOC encourages digital posting in addition to the physical notice.

4. Find the records

Locate personnel files, payroll records, medical and leave documents, I-9s, and investigation files, and note who has access. You are checking three things: medical information is kept apart from personnel files, I-9s can be produced quickly, and nothing is being destroyed without a schedule.

5. Read what already exists, and meet people

Read the handbook and any open agency charges, demand letters, or audits. Meet each department head and ask what has gone wrong and what is coming in the next six months. Find out who your outside employment counsel, benefits broker, and payroll contact are, and whether you may call them.

Clarify your own authority too; see HR generalist vs. HR manager vs. HR coordinator.

Days 31 to 60: Fix the Processes

Month two turns the findings into repairs, starting with the highest exposure.

1. Correct I-9 and classification problems

Take your lists to leadership with a recommended plan, and involve counsel on anything involving back pay or a pattern of missing I-9s. Document what was found, what was corrected, and when.

2. Set a retention schedule

Different laws set different minimums. A few federal anchors:

These are minimums; many employers keep records longer to cover state requirements and claim limitation periods. Our HR document retention schedule covers the full list.

3. Standardize hiring and onboarding

Create one new-hire packet and one sequence: offer letter, I-9 within the deadlines, tax forms, state new-hire reporting, required notices, benefits enrollment, and handbook acknowledgment. Use the HR onboarding checklist as a base and add your state's items.

4. Build a leave and accommodation intake

Managers should know one thing: when an employee mentions a medical issue, pregnancy, a family member's health, or military service, they call HR before responding. On your side, set up a single intake form and a checklist of the laws to consider: the FMLA if you are covered, the ADA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act at 15 or more employees, workers' compensation, and any state leave or paid sick leave law.

If you sponsor a group health plan and have 20 or more employees, confirm who sends COBRA notices and how they learn of a qualifying event. Many states have continuation rules for smaller employers. Check state continuation requirements for each state where you have covered employees.

5. Set up a complaint procedure and OSHA basics

Make sure employees have more than one way to raise a complaint and that you have a standard way to document and investigate one. If you have more than 10 employees and are not in an exempt industry, confirm that injury and illness records are being kept. Every employer should know OSHA's reporting deadlines: a work-related fatality within 8 hours, and an inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

If this list contains more than one area you have never handled, this is the point where training pays off. The HR Generalist Certificate Program covers these topics in three days of live instruction, with case studies, interactive exercises, and a workbook of sample forms and checklists.

Days 61 to 90: Build the Routine

By month three, the urgent items should be under control. Now make the fixes permanent.

1. Update the handbook. Start with policies the law requires or that your audit showed were wrong. Have counsel review before distribution.
2. Train supervisors. Cover the essentials: wage and hour basics, how to respond to leave and accommodation requests, how to receive a complaint, and documentation.
3. Create a compliance calendar. Include poster checks, benefits deadlines, required filings, I-9 purge dates, and policy reviews. Our HR compliance calendar lists the federal dates.
4. Schedule a self-audit. Put an annual review on the calendar using the steps in how to conduct an HR audit.
5. Report to leadership. Prepare a two-page summary: what you found, what is fixed, what is still open, and what you need.
6. Plan your own development. List the areas where you had to look everything up, and choose training that closes them. If you are weighing credentials, see HR certificate vs. HR certification.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

The HR fundamentals are not glamorous: who is covered by what, whether the I-9s and classifications are right, whether the notices are on the wall, and whether the records are where they should be. Get those right in your first 90 days and you have removed the problems most likely to surface in an audit or a claim, and earned the credibility to work on everything else. This article is general education, not legal advice; bring counsel in on corrections that carry back-pay or penalty exposure.

To cover the full range of generalist responsibilities with an instructor and working examples, see the HR Generalist Certificate Program. For statute-by-statute courses, browse our Employment Law Training. You can also test your readiness against our HR generalist interview questions, or go back to the HR Generalist Guide.