“The problem is, the California Supreme Court gives no guidance as to how exactly companies must carry out this health and safety mandate when it comes to wage and hour compliance issues,” said Medina. “This puts an increasing number of companies at risk for future wage and hour lawsuits.”

To ensure NPH’s continued compliance, Medina McKelvey introduced Gilmore to the firm’s wage and hour Compliance Plan process. Unique in the industry, the Compliance Plan was created to answer the unanswered question that the California Supreme Court posed for employers in terms of rebutting the presumption of non-compliance through a health and safety mindset.

“With our Compliance Plan, we take the same approach any company would to comply with health and safety regulations,” said Medina. “Just like a forklift operator would undergo extensive training and must pass a test before being certified to operate a forklift, we apply that same idea to wage and hour compliance with a four-step process that culminates in certification.” For NPH, Medina McKelvey began with a full audit of the company’s practices and policies. Then, it identified areas of improvement with a color-coded report card. The third step was to provide recommendations to remedy any issues. One of those recommendations was to enroll NPH’s managers and employees in the first- and only-of-its-kind online wage and hour training, testing, and certification program provided through Medina McKelvey’s affiliate company, Cal Comply.