Employment law in New England changes every year, differently in each of the six states. A Massachusetts employer with a Connecticut office and two remote people in Maine is covered by three sets of leave, sick time, harassment training, and pay transparency rules. Keeping up is a job. In most companies under 300 employees, it belongs to someone who already has one.
EANE’s HR consultants take that work off your plate. Members also get the HR Hotline, a live HR professional to call the day a question comes up.
Our HR compliance services
- HR compliance audits. An EANE consultant reviews your handbook, personnel files, wage and hour practices, I-9s, postings, leave administration, and harassment policy, then gives you a written report with findings ranked by risk. You decide what to fix first and whether you want us to do it.
- Employee handbook review and development. We review, update, or write your handbook, checking every policy against each state where you have employees. Members save 30%.
- Pay equity analysis. A comparability study of your pay by position, with the documentation Massachusetts and Rhode Island employers need for their self-evaluation protections.
- Harassment and discrimination prevention training. Live sessions for employees and for managers and supervisors, including a course that meets Connecticut’s two-hour requirement, plus impartial investigations when a complaint comes in.
- Affirmative action plans. Plan preparation and support for federal contractors.
- Labor law posters. Federal and state posting sets for each New England state, with updates when the notices change.
- HR compliance training. Employment law courses for HR professionals and supervisors, from the FLSA and leave management to internal investigations, live and virtual throughout the year or onsite for your team.
We deliver each project onsite or remotely. For ongoing help across projects, RightFit HR pairs you with a dedicated HR Business Partner backed by this whole team.
New England rules we check most often
Each law counts employees its own way, so you can be over one state’s threshold and under another’s.
- Massachusetts. Pay ranges in job postings at 25 or more employees, earned sick time (paid at 11 or more), Paid Family and Medical Leave notices, and the written sexual harassment policy.
- Connecticut. Paid sick leave, pay ranges and benefits descriptions in job postings, and two hours of sexual harassment prevention training for every employee at employers with three or more.
- Rhode Island. Pay range disclosure to applicants and employees, and paid sick and safe leave at 18 or more employees.
- Maine. Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave, pay ranges in job postings at 10 or more employees, and sexual harassment training for new employees and supervisors at 15 or more.
- Vermont. Earned sick time, and pay ranges in job postings at five or more employees.
- New Hampshire. Wage payment and personnel file rules, which also cover remote employees who live there. The state has no paid sick leave or pay range mandate.
Frequently asked questions
How is HR compliance consulting different from hiring an employment lawyer?
An HR consultant builds and fixes the day-to-day practices that keep you out of trouble: policies, files, pay practices, documentation, training. An employment attorney gives legal advice and represents you in a dispute. Once a claim is on the table, you need an attorney. We fix the practices that lead to claims, and we’ll tell you when a question needs counsel.
Do we need this if our payroll provider or PEO already handles compliance?
Payroll providers file what you tell them to file. A PEO’s policies are written for all of its clients. Neither one checks whether your sick time policy meets Connecticut’s rules or whether your managers document discipline the way a Massachusetts unemployment hearing expects. Most of our compliance clients have a payroll provider and still need someone to look at the practices behind the data.
Our employees work in more than one New England state. Which state’s rules apply?
Generally the state where the employee works, which for remote staff means where they live. Most multi-state employers end up with one handbook and a short addendum for each state. Our consultants map which rules reach which employees before recommending anything.
How much do HR compliance services cost, and is any of it included in membership?
Projects are quoted after a scoping call, because a 15-person nonprofit in one state and a 250-person manufacturer in three states need different amounts of work. Members receive preferred pricing on every service here. The HR Hotline is part of membership, so a question you’d otherwise pay a consultant to answer is usually a phone call.