When you make the decision as a business owner, employer or manager to get on track and be proactive in your human resources management practices, a good starting place is to make sure you are in compliance with all the laws that can put you and your business at risk.  Legal compliance is first and foremost fundamental, and staying educated on the continuous legislation that effects employment is critical. 

First, all employers, no matter what the size, are subject to some employment laws.  The larger you become, the more laws apply.  Identifying which employment and labor laws, wage and hour rules, OSHA regulations and other legislation apply to you based on the number of employees you have is vital.  Here is a glimpse of the laws that apply to you based on the number of employees you have:

Second, as an employer, you must tap into the resources that will help you keep compliant, whether it is your labor law attorney, HR consultant, local Chamber of Commerce, the newspaper, employment law handbooks and journals, the Internet, whatever.  Just do it.  I am an advocate for utilizing all the free resources you can find first, trying to handle on your own -- that is if you have the time to dedicate.  As far as resources available to you to keep yourself updated and educated on the copious requirements, you have many.  A few of the many websites you should be familiar with are California Chamber of Commerce (www.calchamber.com), California Dept. of Industrial Relations (www.dir.ca.gov), Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing (www.dfeh.ca.gov), US Dept. of Labor (www.dol.gov), OSHA (www.osha.gov), Cal-OSHA (www.dir.ca.gov/dosh), IRS (www.irs.gov).

Locally, your Redding Chamber of Commerce (www.reddingchamber.com), Smart Business Resource Center (www.shastasmart.com), Employers Advisory Council (www.ceac.org), Society of Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org), EDD (www.edd.ca.gov) are just a few.  In addition, the local Labor Commissioners office (225-2655) is a number you may want to have on speed dial to stay in compliance with wage and hour rules.  

Know what is out there, look, read, research, ask around, and get trained to become educated and stay educated.  Remember, in this day and age our some employees know more than we do, and not to be too cynical, but as an employer you must be in a position to know what risks you have and proactively take steps to minimize your liability.