HR Document Compliance Guides

Practical checklists for the documents that end up as exhibits — built around the checks employment attorneys actually run, and the same risk categories DefensibleHR.ai scans for. No fluff, no gated PDFs.

Termination

Termination Letter Compliance Checklist: What Attorneys Look For

The 8 termination-letter mistakes that show up in wrongful termination lawsuits — stated-reason consistency, final-paycheck timing by state, OWBPA waiver rules, WARN exposure, and more.

Confidentiality

Employee NDA Compliance Checklist: 7 Clauses That Get NDAs Thrown Out

Missing DTSA whistleblower notice forfeits double damages. Overbroad confidentiality violates the NLRA. What to check before anyone signs.

Handbook

Employee Handbook Compliance Checklist: 8 Sections That Create Legal Exposure

At-will disclaimers, Stericycle-safe work rules, harassment reporting channels, leave statements, wage-hour policies, and state addenda — audited the way a plaintiff's attorney would.

Performance

PIP Compliance Checklist: What Makes a Performance Improvement Plan Defensible

Objective goals, pre-existing documentation, retaliation timing, comparator consistency, ADA and FMLA traps — the 8 checks that separate a real improvement plan from pretext evidence.

Severance

Severance Agreement Compliance Checklist: 8 Ways a Release Fails

If the release fails, you paid severance and kept the lawsuit. OWBPA elements, McLaren Macomb limits, non-waivable claims, agency carve-outs, and state mechanics like California §1542.

Hiring

Offer Letter Compliance Checklist: 8 Mistakes That Turn Offers Into Contracts

Annualized salary traps, misclassification, FCRA-compliant contingencies, state non-compete notice deadlines, pay transparency, and the integration clause that ends recruiter promises.

Investigations

Workplace Investigation Report Compliance Checklist

Investigator impartiality, credibility findings with a stated basis, confidentiality instructions under the NLRB's Stericycle framework, scope, and documented remedial action — the 8 checks attorneys run on a report.

EEOC

EEOC Position Statement Mistakes: 8 Things Attorneys Check

The charging party can request your position statement. Confidential-info segregation, consistent stated reasons, admissions, comparator claims, and the retaliation traps that outlive the original charge.

ADA

ADA Accommodation Denial Letters: 8 Compliance Checks

Documented interactive process, individualized undue hardship, direct-threat standards, essential functions as actually performed, reassignment, and the inflexible policies the EEOC has targeted.

Classification

Independent Contractor Misclassification: IRS and ABC Test Checklist

Calling someone a contractor doesn't make them one. Behavioral and financial control, ABC prong B, independent-business evidence, and the contract terms that undercut your own classification.

Leave

Can You Fire an Employee on FMLA Leave?

Yes — but only for reasons unrelated to the leave, and the timing puts the burden on you. What makes an FMLA-period termination defensible, and the mistakes that turn it into an interference claim.

Comparison

ChatGPT & Claude vs. DefensibleHR

Chatbots draft. Compliance tools defend. The side-by-side: consistency, PII protection, audit trails, and the four gaps that matter when a document becomes Exhibit A.

State compliance guides

Employment law follows where your employees work, not where you're headquartered. What's different in each state — reviewed twice a year, with volatile rates linked to official sources. More states coming.

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