Yes, a contract with ES Legal Inc. is required for all services. After the initial six-month commitment, you may terminate services at any time. If you terminate in the middle of a month, your contract will end on the last day of that month. If you decide to pay quarterly, then your contact will terminate at the end of the quarter.

On-Call HR Services Plans include a cap on on-call HR consulting service hours per quarter, pro-rated for partial quarters. At the end of a month (or, quarterly for those clients paying on a quarterly basis), if hours of work have exceeded the cap then excess HR consulting services will be charged at a discounted rate of $150.00/hour. Our goal is no surprise invoices – we work with our clients to be sure they know if a project will be likely to exceed the cap and prepare project timelines and goals to stay under the cap when practical.

If you decide to purchase On-Call HR Services Plans on a quarterly basis by paying in advance for a three month period you receive a discount on your fee and you get to bank your hours for the quarter which means that you are less likely to exceed the hours cap and have additional charges. You will also be given the flexibility to use your prepaid hours of services within that quarter rather than splitting them into months. Even if you use all your hours in one month, there will be no additional fees. This helps businesses plan for HR emergencies, a COVID-19 outbreak situation where they need additional HR support, a difficult termination, or handling a complex internal complaint.

No, we do not provide refunds for HR consulting services. If you do not use your on-call HR consulting hours, you are still not entitled to a refund. Make sure you call when something comes up to get the value of your investment! And if you need to cancel, you can do so at any time after the initial six-month commitment.

Employees, business owners, and managers are human, and they sometimes make mistakes or have to make tough choices. Sometimes situations can escalate even with the help of our experienced HR team. We do our best to help you understand your risks, develop options to address those risks, and implement the business decision that is right for your business. Our ultimate goal is to prevent litigation, but sometimes litigation may still occur, especially if you make a risky business decision. For these reasons, we do not make any guarantees, warranties, or promises about the outcome of a particular matter.

Upgrading or implementing a new Human Resources Information System (HRIS), moving from paper to digital (i.e., paperless or cloud-based) Human Resources files and functions, and facilitation of 360 executive/management performance evaluations.

No. Workplace investigation services will only be provided by a licensed attorney, as required by California law, with assistance from our team of support staff including paralegals, investigation report editors, and HR consultants as needed. Workplace investigation services are not included in HR consulting packages. However, if you are an On-Call HR Support Plan client, you will qualify for discounted attorney workplace investigation rates.

Workplace investigations, legal services, payroll administration, benefits administration, workplace safety trainings, multi-state employer compliance, HR for workers’ outside of California, direct recruitment, direct responsibility for state and federal filing requirements, development of deferred executive compensation plans.

No, HR consulting does not include legal services. ES Legal HR consultants work at the general direction of and with training from ES Legal attorneys; however, legal services, are not included in our HR consulting packages. Legal services include phone, email or in-person consultations with licensed attorneys on pending matters, union negotiations, and workplace investigation services. We also offer business and corporate law services. We are committed to openly communicating with you about when you need legal services and we do not perform legal services that you don’t authorize.

If you need legal services, those will be charged separately at the attorney’s or paralegal’s hourly rate, or on a flat fee basis if agreed upon in advance. Our attorney rates change from time to time, and depend on the nature of the work and other factors. We will confirm with you in advance what legal services rate applies at the time legal services are needed. Additionally, all clients purchasing our “On-Call HR Services Plan” will qualify for a discount on our legal services rates.

No problem, that’s your choice. Ultimately, it’s your organization and we support you in making your own business decisions. If one of our HR consultants has recommended you obtain legal services from one of our attorneys on a particular situation, you have the choice whether to do so or not. Importantly, you should know in advance that our HR consultants cannot provide you with legal advice, so if you do decide you need legal services then you should consult one of our attorneys or another lawyer.

Our approach is to explain HR risks, provide options for how to proceed, and help you implement your business decision. If you choose an option that is risky, that’s ok and doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to help you. However, just like you have the choice to make your own business decisions, so do our owners. In some serious situations, for example, if one of our HR consultants is subject to sexual harassment or abuse, or if our HR strategies are not a good long-term fit for your organization, then we may choose to discontinue services.