Technical boring HR compliance, or is it?

I think sometimes people outside of the human resources arena look at HR people and say they are black and white boring people because they are the HR police, and how easy it must be.... just read the law and comply.

Some days that is true.  It's pretty boring having to post a gazillion posters just to comply.  However, that is not what true compliance is all about.  True compliance deals with making sure your actions, during every employee and management interaction, doesn't put the organization in jeopardy.  To really be compliant is not black and white in most cases.  It is about taking actions, as part of a process  and doing it in a fashion that you are protecting, not policing.

I get calls or emails frequently from clients who have a "situation" that they need help with.  Almost all of the time, it is not a simple answer.  We have to work through the process, probe and get more information, so we can come up with the best solution.

For example, a recent email I received said "I have a problem with an employee.  This employee was out on maternity leave and has been released to return to work on March 4, 2013.   She now wants to stipulate time she can work, which location she wants to work at, wants guaranteed overtime due to increased daycare. How is this possible? Am I within my rights to tell her to look for a job?"

Most of the above email can't be answered without probing further.  We need to determine the employee's history, what the employer has told/promised her (if anything), what the employer's policy says, and make sure we look at the demographics (age, race, etc.) to determine if there is potential discrimination.

The part that can be answered is "wants guaranteed overtime due to increased daycare".  The answer to that is no, we don't have to guarantee anything due to the employee incurring personal expenses.  That's the easy part.  The rest isn't so easy, so please don't ever think HR is a boring job because if we don't give the correct advice in this situation, the ramifications to the employer could adversely affect their bottom line by creating fines and other penalties for not considering all the laws our decision could be violating (or complying with).

Human resources IS fun and can be complex.  I love my "job"!!