As a business owner, one of your main priorities should always be to protect your workers’ rights and provide them with all the resources the law demands. However, there’s no denying that there are a lot of factors to take into account when it comes to having employees, but sometimes details slip through the cracks. And when it comes to workers, there’s a lot of risks attached.
In California for example most of the employment services are grouped under the Employment Development Department or EDD. And the EDD is as thorough as it is merciless when it wants to. All it takes is for one employee to leave the company for the EDD to declare it’ll audit your business. So with so much riding on the line what should you do? First of all, hire an EDD lawyer, and keep moving from there.
What triggers an EDD audit?
There are a lot of reasons why the EDD could choose to audit your company, and more often than not it doesn’t involve any real suspicions. Occasionally the EDD might choose to audit due to existing concerns on the company or business, but more often than it comes down to protocol. When a former employee of yours declares themselves as unemployed this means that they become eligible for unemployment payments. However, the EDD handles this in a unique manner. Instead of determining whether their case has merits or not on its own, the EDD choose to audit the entire company and go over the information of every single contractor involved in the company. This is the main reason why audits happen in California, and why they are so plentiful.
What is the role of an EDD lawyer?
The role of an EDD lawyer is to guide you and support your company throughout the complex EDD audit process, but they also ensure that all paperwork is correct. In short, they are a safety measure for your company. An EDD audit can be a long and stressful process, and even if everything is functioning according to the law you can still be asked to respond to any expenses the audit caused.
Relying on an expert lawyer allows you and your company to be on top of things, have all information ready for the audit, and overall reduce the length and cost of the entire process. An EDD audit is complex and it’s likely going to incur countless costs if you handle it on your own. So leave it to the experts and avoid any unneeded worries when the EDD eventually chooses to audit your company.