HR Manager

Hope Program, A Licensed Clinical Social Worker Professional Corporation•San Ramon, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The HR Manager is the primary day-to-day HR resource for approximately 150 employees. This role is built around four core pillars: protecting employees’ rights from their first day forward, resolving workplace issues fairly and lawfully, maintaining accurate employment records, and delivering training that builds a legally sound, equitable workplace. What sets this role apart from a standard HR Manager is the expectation that the HR Manager operates with a legal-compliance mindset equivalent to an in-house employment paralegal drafting legally defensible documentation, spotting wage-hour and leave law triggers, and serving as the first line of review before matters escalate to outside counsel.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Legal Studies, or a related field or equivalent professional experience.
Minimum 3–5 years of progressive HR experience with direct, hands-on responsibility for employee relations, leave administration, and employment law compliance.
Demonstrated working knowledge of: Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, NLRA, GINA, FCRA, IRCA, and applicable state equivalents.
Experience drafting HR documents to a legally defensible standard: investigation summaries, disciplinary notices, separation letters, accommodation determinations, and policy language.
HRIS administration, reporting, and data integrity management.
Benefit administration including COBRA, FMLA, ERISA, and ACA compliance.
Recruitment, structured interviewing, FCRA-compliant background screening.
Payroll coordination and FLSA wage-hour compliance.
Employment law research and policy drafting.
High degree of discretion and confidentiality in handling sensitive employee information.
Strong written and verbal communication skills for policy drafting, investigation documentation, and manager guidance.
Solutions-oriented mindset with ability to balance employee advocacy and organizational risk management.
Detail-oriented and organized with strong process management skills.
Collaborative approach to cross-functional partnership with management, legal counsel, and external vendors.

Nice To Haves

Paralegal certificate, ABA-approved paralegal degree, or J.D. (non-practicing) or equivalent in-house legal support experience in an employment law context.
Experience supporting employment litigation: drafting position statements (EEOC, DFEH/CRD), responding to agency charges, preparing litigation hold notices, and coordinating document productions.
Familiarity with employment law research tools (Westlaw, LexisNexis, SHRM Express Requests, or equivalent) and ability to identify applicable law for novel fact patterns.
Experience drafting or reviewing: arbitration agreements, severance agreements and releases (OWBPA / ADEA compliance for employees 40+), WARN Act notices, and employment-related settlement documents under attorney supervision.
Understanding of attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine in the HR context; ability to manage communication flow to preserve privilege when outside counsel is engaged.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary HR point of contact for all active employees — fielding concerns, answering policy questions, and connecting employees to benefits, leave, and accommodation resources promptly and without retaliation.
Maintain a visible, approachable presence for the workforce; conduct regular check-ins with department managers to surface emerging employee relations issues before they escalate.
Document all employee relations interactions, counseling sessions, and informal resolutions contemporaneously and store records securely, separate from general personnel files where legally required.
Conduct or coordinate timely, impartial investigations of complaints alleging harassment, discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, or policy violations in compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, the ADEA, and applicable state law (e.g., California FEHA, Gov. Code § 12940 et seq.).
Prepare investigation summaries that include: complaint summary, witnesses interviewed, evidence reviewed, findings, and recommended action — drafted to the standard of a legally defensible memorandum.
Maintain strict investigator impartiality; escalate matters involving senior leadership, complex legal exposure, or threatened litigation to outside employment counsel immediately.
Ensure no adverse action is taken against any employee for reporting a concern or participating in an investigation; monitor for retaliation in the 90 days following any complaint resolution.
Advise and coach managers on lawful, documented progressive discipline: verbal counseling, written warning, performance improvement plan (PIP), and final action, applying each step consistently across similarly situated employees to reduce disparate-treatment exposure.
Review all written disciplines and termination recommendations before issuance; confirm that documentation supports the stated basis and does not reference protected characteristics, protected activity, or legally ambiguous conduct.
Manage involuntary separation processes including: final pay compliance per applicable state law (California Labor Code § 201–203: immediate payment on discharge; 72 hours on resignation without notice), COBRA qualifying-event notice within 14 days of plan administrator notification, and completion of WARN Act analysis where applicable.
Maintain separation checklists and confirm return of company property, access revocation, and post-termination obligations (non-disparagement, references policy) are completed and documented.
Complete Form I-9 employment eligibility verification for every new hire within 3 business days of the date employment begins, per IRCA (8 U.S.C. § 1324a); maintain I-9 records in a separate binder or file, not in the general personnel file.
Process federal and state tax withholding forms (W-4, applicable state equivalent), direct deposit enrollment, and state new-hire reporting (typically due within 20 days of hire per federal law; shorter windows in some states).
Issue all legally required new-hire notices on or before Day 1, including: FMLA General Notice (29 C.F.R. § 825.300), COBRA Initial Notice, applicable state new-hire disclosures (e.g., California DFEH/CRD pamphlets, notice of workers’ compensation rights, paid sick leave notice), and any applicable state pay transparency disclosures.
Deliver structured new-hire orientation covering: EEO policy and complaint procedures, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation policy, leave entitlements (FMLA, state leave, PTO), accommodation request procedures, and pay practices — ensuring employees understand both their rights and how to exercise them.
Obtain signed acknowledgments for all mandatory policies and maintain in the personnel file.
Assign and track completion of mandatory training within required timeframes (see §5).
Assign a point of contact (buddy or direct manager) and schedule a 30-day check-in to address any early concerns before they escalate.
Ensure all pre-employment background checks are conducted through FCRA-compliant processes: provide standalone disclosure and authorization, use a permissible-purpose FCRA-compliant consumer reporting agency (CRA), and follow adverse action procedures (pre-adverse notice, Summary of Rights, 5-business-day waiting period, final adverse notice) before any adverse hiring decision.
Apply ban-the-box and fair chance hiring ordinances as required by jurisdiction; do not inquire into criminal history until the conditional offer stage where required by law.
Confirm that offer letters are written as at-will agreements (where applicable), do not include language creating implied contracts, and specify start date, position, compensation, and contingencies only.
Serve as the primary HRIS administrator; maintain complete, accurate employee records including hire/termination dates, job title, compensation history, leave usage, and performance actions.
Audit HRIS data quarterly for accuracy; identify and correct discrepancies in exempt/non-exempt classifications, pay rates, and accrual balances that could create wage-and-hour liability.
Restrict access to employee data on a need-to-know basis; ensure system permissions are reviewed and updated with each role change or termination.
Maintain medical records, ADA/FEHA accommodation files, and GINA-related information in files physically and electronically separate from general personnel records, as required by the ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)) and GINA Title II.
Treat all EEO self-identification data as confidential; do not share with hiring managers in a manner that could influence employment decisions.
Respond to employee requests to inspect or copy their personnel file in compliance with applicable state law (e.g., California Labor Code § 1198.5: employee access within 30 days of request).
Report suspected data breaches involving employee personally identifiable information (PII) to IT and VP, Finance; support notification obligations under applicable state breach notification laws.
Coordinate and track completion of all legally required training
Maintain training records (certificates of completion, sign-in sheets, LMS records) sufficient to demonstrate compliance in any agency audit or litigation.
Proactively calendar all recurring training deadlines and issue advance reminders to managers 60 days before due dates.
Design and administer annual employee engagement surveys; analyze results for patterns that may indicate systemic issues (e.g., disparate dissatisfaction across demographic groups) and present findings with recommended actions to HR leadership.
Support recognition programs, career development pathways, and internal mobility processes that are applied equitably across protected classes.
Facilitate manager development workshops covering lawful interviewing, performance documentation, accommodation conversations, and retaliation prevention.
Track key workforce metrics — turnover, time-to-fill, absenteeism, leave usage — and prepare quarterly analytics reports for HR leadership; flag trends that suggest underlying employee relations or compliance risks.
Support EEO-1 annual reporting (required for employers with 100+ employees under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-8); maintain clean workforce demographic data in HRIS throughout the year to reduce year-end reporting burden.