Find the employment exposures before they become claims.

Why audit before there's a claim

Most California employment claims start with a fact pattern that existed for months or years before the complaint was filed. Misclassified contractors, missing meal-and-rest break documentation, a handbook that doesn't reflect actual practice, an undocumented termination — the exposure was building the whole time.

An employment audit catches that exposure on your timeline. You decide what to fix, in what order, with what documentation. By the time a claim hits, the obvious vulnerabilities are gone — and the defense isn't reconstructing things that should have been documented from the start.

What a comprehensive audit covers

1. Classification audit

Every California worker — employee or contractor, exempt or non-exempt — gets reviewed against the relevant test. Contractors against AB 5 / ABC test. Exempt employees against the duties test plus salary basis. The audit identifies misclassifications and the exposure they create.

2. Wage-and-hour audit

Meal-and-rest break documentation, off-the-clock-work policies, expense-reimbursement compliance under Cal Lab Code §2802, wage-statement compliance under §226, final-paycheck timing under §201/202, payroll-record retention. Cal Lab Code §226 violations are PAGA-eligible — the audit catches them before they're on a wage claim.

3. Handbook and policy audit

Existing handbook (if any) reviewed against current California requirements. Identification of outdated language, missing required policies, internal inconsistencies, and language that creates unintended exposure (e.g., specific progressive-discipline language eroding at-will status).

4. Training compliance audit

AB 1825 / SB 1343 sexual-harassment training records — companies with 5+ employees in California must train all employees within 6 months of hire and every 2 years thereafter. Audit identifies gaps and untrained employees.

5. Termination practice audit

Sample of recent terminations reviewed for documentation, performance-improvement-plan use (where applicable), final-paycheck timing, severance handling. Identifies pattern problems before a wrongful-termination claim hits.

6. Workplace-violence prevention plan

SB 553 (effective July 2024) requires most California employers to maintain a written workplace-violence prevention plan, train employees on it, and maintain logs. Audit identifies whether the plan exists and meets requirements.

7. Specific risk areas

Specific to the company's industry and size: PAGA exposure, BIPA-equivalent biometric data handling (Illinois law, but California-relevant for multistate employers), pay-equity audits (California's Equal Pay Act, Cal Lab Code §1197.5), pregnancy-disability leave, lactation accommodation, criminal-record consideration timing.

How the audit produces value

A prioritized risk register. Each finding gets a severity rating (high / medium / low), an estimated exposure if not addressed, and a recommended remediation. You decide what to fix and when.

Fixes scoped separately. The audit identifies what needs fixing. The actual remediation work (handbook update, classification correction, training rollout, policy drafting) is its own scoped engagement — flat-fee or hourly depending on what's needed. We don't surprise-bill the remediation.

Documentation that survives discovery. An audit conducted at the direction of counsel and structured to support attorney-client privilege creates protected documentation. If a claim hits later, the audit itself isn't typically discoverable; the underlying facts and remediation actions are.