The Complete HR Compliance Checklist for 2026

HR compliance is such a big topic that it can take dozens of HR professionals — along with HR software — to navigate employment laws and avoid compliance issues. From federal regulations to state labor laws, HR departments have a growing patchwork of rules to keep up with, and penalties for non-compliance can be high.

While every human resources team has different needs and obligations, there are some considerations that nearly every HR team should take into account. An HR compliance checklist serves as a helpful guide to ensure you don’t miss anything important.

Here’s our comprehensive HR checklist for 2026, covering many of the existing and upcoming compliance requirements that HR departments should be aware of.

Benefits of an HR Compliance Checklist

Using an HR compliance checklist isn’t just a routine exercise. It can help you meet your legal requirements, reduce regulatory risk, and enforce your own company policies. We recommend using a digital checklist so employees can access it from anywhere. 

Here are just a few benefits to using an HR compliance checklist.

Standardize Recordkeeping

Even when your HR department knows their legal requirements and is doing everything right, they may not be documenting it properly. A compliance checklist is a great way to standardize your recordkeeping process and encourage your HR team to document everything they do in a systematic way.

Use document management software to create templates, automatically generate key documents, and store them in a secure, cloud-based environment for future review.

Meet Notice Requirements

Many state and federal laws have notice requirements that require businesses to inform employees about their rights, typically in the form of workplace posters, but also in other contexts. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides workplace posters covering various employee rights and responsibilities that employers can print out.

Since large and small businesses have different requirements, use an HR compliance checklist to ensure that you’ve posted the appropriate notices for your workplace.

Support Employee Well-Being

HR compliance checklists aren’t just about meeting your legal requirements. They’re also about developing a positive work environment. Use checklists to confirm that employees are aware of your HR policies as written in your employee handbook, such as your dress code, remote work policy, and harassment policies.

When employees know which procedures to follow in the case of workplace incidents, you can reduce employee complaints and increase retention.

8 Items to Include on Your HR Compliance Checklist

Your HR compliance checklist will vary depending on where your organization is located and which regulations apply. For example, small businesses may be exempt from some federal laws, while large businesses may be covered by leave laws in multiple states.

Here’s a comprehensive guide of what to include on your HR checklist, but always do your due diligence in case you have any additional requirements not listed here.

1. Payroll and Tax Compliance

Payroll and tax compliance is a broad category that spans multiple recordkeeping and reporting obligations. HR departments need to comply with laws like the Equal Pay Act and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which spell out compensation requirements for nonexempt employees. These include:

• Minimum wage
• Overtime pay
• Tips
• Youth employment

Employers must also consider employee classification when determining whether a new hire is an employee or an independent contractor. You’ll need to manage tax withholding for the IRS and retain Form I-9 for three years after the employee is hired.

When you streamline your payroll management process with automation, you can take care of some of the most complex payroll calculations automatically and synchronize employee information across your HR platforms to ensure accuracy.

2. Benefits Administration

Employee benefits include things like health insurance, retirement plans, and wellness programs. While some benefits are voluntary, others are mandated by law.

For example, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires large businesses to provide group healthcare plans to their employees. Small businesses with 50 or fewer employees are exempt from these obligations but may still have some reporting requirements.

HR leaders should ensure that their HR compliance checklist covers employee benefits administration to avoid incurring penalties.

3. Recruiting and Onboarding

The recruiting and onboarding process is a hotspot of potential compliance issues, and hiring teams should take care to avoid violating the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) and other anti-discrimination legislation. Review your hiring practices to check for compliance issues in the following areas:

• Job descriptions
• Interview questions
• Background checks
• Employee handbooks

Use Pulpstream’s automated onboarding process to welcome new employees to your organization and create a handy onboarding checklist to get them up to speed.

4. Insurance and Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation requirements vary from state to state; in most states, at least some level of workers’ comp is required. Even if it isn’t, it’s a good idea to have some form of business insurance to avoid exposing yourself to legal liability.

Pulpstream makes it easy to manage workers’ compensation cases and track business insurance claims all in one platform. Add workers’ compensation to your HR compliance checklist to protect yourself and your employees if there’s an incident.

5. Workplace Safety

When it comes to incident management, the best approach is to avoid safety incidents entirely. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has several legal requirements for employers, including workplace posting requirements, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who raise safety issues.

By including workplace safety on your compliance checklist, you can prioritize safety training, audits and inspections, and other precautionary measures. Of course, you should also have a plan for an incident investigation if something does happen.

6. ADA Accommodation

Employees with a qualifying disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are entitled to reasonable accommodation. This can include a separate workplace, a flexible work schedule, modified work equipment, or accessibility aids.

HR teams can use a checklist to help them navigate the ADA interactive process and find a satisfactory accommodation. This may entail:

• Requesting medical documentation
• Reviewing the employee’s job description
• Brainstorming possible accommodations

Be sure to check in with the employee after implementing the accommodation to see how well it’s working and make adjustments if necessary.

7. Leaves of Absence

Employee leaves of absence may be covered by one of several state and federal leave laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). As more states expand their leave protections, determining employee eligibility can be harder than ever, especially when multiple employment laws intersect.

Employees may be entitled to leave for family obligations (such as the birth of a child), medical issues (including mental health issues), military deployments, and more.

Use Pulpstream’s leave of absence automation platform to coordinate leave, confirm eligibility requirements, and track absences when multiple types of leave overlap.

8. Data Protection

As more and more organizations digitize their business practices, data protection and security is more important than ever. Your HR department may be handling sensitive information, such as an employee’s medical records, to confirm their eligibility for a leave of absence or an ADA accommodation.

Both of these laws have strict confidentiality requirements; and in any case, handling employee data safely and securely is simply good business sense. With Pulpstream’s robust data security features, you can feel confident that your employee data is stored safely in the cloud, while still being accessible to your team when they need it.

Automate HR Compliance With Pulpstream

HR compliance keeps regulators happy, HR leaders happy, and your employees happy. It means fewer penalties for non-compliance, and more time and money to support the well-being of your team. By creating an HR compliance checklist, you can standardize your HR processes and streamline everything from leave management to payroll.

Pulpstream’s HR automation platform makes it easy to create your own onboarding checklists, ADA checklists, FMLA eligibility checklists, and more. Use our reporting dashboards to track workplace incidents and address compliance issues.

Request a demo today to see it in action!