HR Compliance and Audits, Led with Executive Judgment
A compliance posture review tells you where the business is exposed before an agency, a claimant or a buyer's diligence team tells you first. KNS Associates audits your HR practices, policies and handbook against Texas and federal employment themes, working alongside your employment counsel.
When a Compliance Review Earns Its Keep
The best time to find a problem is when you are the only one looking for it.
Most small and medium-sized businesses did not build their HR practices; they inherited them, borrowed them and improvised them while the company grew. That is normal. It also means nobody actually knows the company's compliance posture until someone looks, and you want the person looking to be on your side.
KNS Associates conducts HR compliance audits for companies typically in the $1M to $500M revenue range, in Houston and nationwide.
Leaders bring us in when one of these is true.
- Headcount has grown faster than policies and practices
- You are preparing for investment, sale or a buyer's diligence
- A complaint, claim or near miss got leadership's attention
- Policies exist on paper but practice has drifted away from them
- New leadership wants an honest baseline of where things stand
What an HR Compliance Audit Covers
Scope is agreed up front. A full posture review typically examines these areas.
Hiring and Onboarding
Job postings, interview practices, offers, background screening practices, work authorization documentation and onboarding records.
Wage and Hour Practices
How workers are classified as employees or contractors, exempt and non-exempt treatment, overtime practices and timekeeping discipline.
Policies and Handbook
Whether written policies are current, consistent, actually followed, and free of promises the company does not keep. Covered in depth below.
Leave and Accommodation
How leave requests and accommodations are handled, documented and applied consistently across managers and locations.
Performance and Separation
Documentation habits, discipline practices, termination decisions and final pay handling, where exposure most often concentrates.
Recordkeeping and Data
Personnel files, retention practices and the confidentiality of employee information across systems and managers.
Policy and Handbook Review
The gap between what the handbook says and what the company does is where exposure lives.
Handbooks drift. They get written once, often from a borrowed template, then the business changes and the document does not. The result is policies that promise procedures nobody follows, provisions that no longer match how you operate, and silences on subjects that now matter. Any of those can be used against you.
Ken reads your handbook the way an opposing party would, then checks it against how the company actually operates. The review flags conflicts between policy and practice, outdated provisions, missing policies and language that creates obligations you never intended. You get plain-language recommendations, prioritized by risk, with proposed direction for each fix. Final policy language is reviewed with your employment counsel so the operational fix and the legal position line up.
- Handbook read critically, the way an opposing party would read it
- Policy checked against real practice, not just against a template
- Gaps, conflicts and unintended promises flagged and prioritized
- Recommended fixes coordinated with your employment counsel
Texas and Federal Compliance Themes
Practical HR guidance on the themes that matter, with legal questions routed to counsel where they belong.
Texas employers operate under both state and federal frameworks, and the practical risk usually sits in everyday habits rather than exotic legal questions. The recurring themes: understanding what at-will employment does and does not protect, classification and overtime practices, consistent equal employment opportunity practices in hiring and discipline, leave and accommodation handling, workplace safety basics, and the care of employee records and data.
To be direct about what this service is: KNS Associates is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. What Ken provides is experienced HR judgment about how compliant companies actually operate, built over 30+ years of HR leadership. Findings that carry legal exposure are flagged for your employment counsel, and Ken coordinates with counsel so that legal positions and day-to-day practice reinforce each other instead of drifting apart.
Imagery on this page is representative. Client photography replaces it once brand assets are approved.
Why an Executive Should Lead Your Audit
A checklist finds missing documents. An executive finds risk.
Anyone can compare your files to a template. The judgment is in knowing which findings are urgent, which are noise, and how to fix the urgent ones without disrupting the business or alarming the workforce. Ken has owned that responsibility at the highest level, including as CHRO at JB Poindexter, and brings that same standard to every audit.
Proof, Not Promises
- 30+ years of HR leadership
- Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University
- HR leadership at Honeywell and Cummins
- Led global HR transformations
- CHRO and VP of HR and Administration at JB Poindexter
How an Audit Engagement Runs
Discreet, structured and finished with a plan, not just a report.
- 01
Scoping consultation
We discuss what is prompting the review, agree the scope and depth, and set confidentiality expectations before anything begins.
- 02
Document review
Handbook, policies, personnel files, pay practices, classifications and records are reviewed against current Texas and federal compliance themes.
- 03
Practice interviews
Conversations with leaders and managers to learn how things actually work day to day, because practice is where posture is decided.
- 04
Findings and roadmap
A prioritized, plain-language briefing for leadership: what is solid, what is exposed, what to fix first and why.
- 05
Remediation support
Help executing the fixes in the right order, guidance on policy rewrites, coordination with counsel, and follow-up to confirm the changes held.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. KNS Associates is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The audit delivers experienced HR practice guidance, and anything with legal exposure is flagged for your employment counsel, with Ken coordinating so the two workstreams stay aligned.
It depends on headcount, locations and scope, so the timeline is agreed during the scoping consultation. The work is structured to move quickly without cutting corners, and you see findings as they firm up rather than waiting for a final reveal.
The engagement is handled discreetly and professionally. Where interviews are needed, they are framed as a good-practice review of how HR supports the business, which is exactly what it is.
A prioritized findings briefing for leadership in plain business language, a risk-ordered remediation roadmap, and recommended policy and practice changes. If you want help executing, Ken supports remediation directly.
Often yes. A PEO handles parts of administrative compliance, but plenty stays with you as the employer: classification decisions, terminations, accommodations, manager behavior and practice drift. An audit shows what is genuinely covered and what only feels covered.
Yes. Remediation support is part of the engagement, and where findings point to deeper issues, clients often continue with fractional HR leadership or a broader rebuild of the HR function.
Related Services
Find the Exposure Before Someone Else Does
A confidential conversation about your compliance posture costs nothing and commits you to nothing.