Benefits are one part of running a workforce. The questions do not stop there.
A policy that needs updating. A termination that has to be handled correctly. A classification question nobody in the building can answer with confidence. These land on the same desk as benefits, usually a desk with one person at it, and most employers have nowhere reliable to take them.
The expensive problems are rarely exotic.
In practice the same few issues account for most of the exposure we see, and all of them are cheaper to fix before anyone asks about them.
A Handbook That Is Out of Date
Employment law moves at the state level, so a handbook written once and left alone drifts out of compliance without anything visible changing. It is also the first document produced in any dispute. Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act is the current example: a handbook drafted before it took effect can still describe a sick leave policy the law no longer permits. A dated review each year, with the changes logged, keeps it defensible.
Worker Classification
Exempt or non-exempt, and employee or contractor. Both tests are fact-driven, both are commonly decided by habit, and both carry back-pay exposure when they are decided wrongly. Job titles and pay type are not the test; duties and control are. The common mistake is labeling a role salaried and assuming it is exempt, or keeping a long-term worker on contractor paperwork because that is how the relationship started.
Inconsistent Practice
Two managers handling the same situation differently is the pattern that turns a single complaint into a case. Written process is the cure, and it does not have to be elaborate. Start with the situations that recur: attendance, leave requests and discipline. A short written process for each, with the manager’s step and HR’s step spelled out, gives you something to point to when a decision is questioned.
Advisory work, on the same team that runs your benefits.
The advantage of having these questions handled here is that the people answering them already know your plan, your population and your calendar.
Handbooks and Policy
Built or refreshed against current state and federal law, in language your managers will actually apply, with the benefits sections consistent with the plan documents. We flag the policies that interact with coverage, such as leave, waiting periods and eligibility hours, because a mismatch there turns into a claim dispute rather than an HR one.
HR Compliance Audits
Wage-and-hour review, classification review and general practice audits, run before a regulator or a complaint finds the gap. The useful result separates fixes you can make internally from the ones that need an attorney. An audit done on your own initiative also leaves a record that you looked.
Support on Demand
Somebody to call with the day-to-day question that does not wait for the next renewal cycle — and who will say when a question genuinely needs an attorney. Because the same team handles your benefits, the answer accounts for eligibility, leave and coverage, not just the policy wording. For quick questions outside business hours, our 24/7 chat is available as well.
The benefits platform decision usually makes a bigger decision by accident.
HR and Payroll Systems Advice
We advise on HR and payroll system selection, because the benefits platform sits in the middle of both and the choice is too often made on the benefits demo alone. We look at how enrollment, deductions and eligibility changes will flow between systems before you sign, and we can sit in on demos to ask the questions a benefits platform has to answer.
What the Integration Will and Will Not Carry
Knowing in advance which fields move between systems — and which never do — changes which system you pick and what you staff around. Deduction codes, hire dates and terminations are the fields worth testing first, because each one left manual becomes a monthly reconciliation task that someone has to own.
Compliance Updates Before They Are Deadlines
The changes coming to employment and benefits obligations, flagged while there is still time to do something about them. Each flag comes with what it means for your plan and your size, and whether anything needs to change before the next plan year. We send them in plain language, with the action item first.
What employers ask about HR support.
Where do handbooks go wrong?
They stop matching practice. A policy nobody applies twice the same way is worse than no policy, because it sets an expectation you are then measured against. The fix is usually a short review with managers: what the policy says, what they actually do and which of the two you intend to keep. Then either the document or the practice changes, so they match again.
Why does worker classification keep coming up?
Because it decides benefits eligibility, overtime and tax treatment at once, and the cost of getting it wrong compounds quietly for years before anyone raises it. It also decides who counts toward thresholds such as the 50 full-time employee line for the ACA mandate, where full-time equivalents count too. We check classification against your plan’s eligibility terms, so the people offered coverage are the people the rules say should be.
Do we need this if we already have counsel?
They are different jobs. Counsel answers the legal question. The day-to-day question is whether your practice, your handbook and your systems agree with each other — and that is usually caught before it becomes a legal question. When our review turns up something that is genuinely a legal question, we say so and take it to your counsel, or to the ERISA attorneys available to clients through us.
HR consulting and advisory in Bloomfield Hills for employers without a big HR team
Many growing companies have one HR person, or none at all. The owner or office manager covers HR on top of a full job. Rules change, and they often learn about a new one only after they have missed it. HR consulting and advisory in Bloomfield Hills gives you someone to ask first.
We are an independent employee benefits consulting firm, in business since 2007. Our office is on Woodward Avenue, and we serve employers in Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Auburn Hills and across the state of Michigan.
HR Consulting & Advisory
We focus on the HR questions that touch your benefits. Who is eligible? When does COBRA apply? Do you need to file Forms 1095-C? Is your leave policy lined up with your disability plan?
Here is how we help:
- We review your benefit eligibility rules and waiting periods.
- We flag the federal and Michigan rules that apply at your size.
- We help keep you ERISA compliant, from plan documents to required notices.
- We advise on professional employer organizations (PEOs).
We are licensed insurance brokers, not a law firm or an accounting firm. When a question needs a lawyer or a CPA, our clients get access to CPAs and ERISA attorneys through the firm.
Which HR and benefits rules apply to my business by size?
Size decides a lot. Here is a quick guide:
- Under 20 employees: Michigan has no state continuation law. Federal COBRA does not apply, so there is no duty to continue coverage.
- 20 or more employees: Federal COBRA applies.
- 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees: The ACA employer mandate applies. You also file Forms 1095-C early each year.
- 50 or more employees within 75 miles: FMLA applies.
- Every size: Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act has been in effect since February 2025.
Michigan has no state disability program. Pay during time off for an illness or injury comes only from a disability plan you choose to offer.
Should my company use a PEO?
A PEO, or professional employer organization, becomes a co-employer of your staff for payroll, HR and benefits. For a very small team with no HR help, that can make sense.
It has trade-offs. You share control of your benefits. Leaving takes planning, because your health plan leaves with the PEO. We advise on whether to use one, help coordinate leaving one and place replacement group coverage. We are not a PEO.
Common questions
Do you replace our HR department?
No. We work alongside your HR person, or stand in on benefits questions when you do not have one. For an HR team of one, we take the benefits questions off that desk: eligibility, enrollment, carrier issues and the required notices. Your employees can also call us for help choosing the plan that fits them during enrollment.
Can you answer tax questions?
Our clients get access to CPAs through the firm for tax questions. That covers questions like how pre-tax payroll deductions are treated, how an HRA reimbursement is reported and what counts as taxable benefit income. We handle the benefits side and bring the CPA in where the tax answer decides the design.
Do we need 50 employees to work with you?
No. We work with small groups and larger employers alike. In Michigan, a small group plan can start on the first of any month with as few as one W-2 employee, and the employer is not required to contribute. What changes with size is which rules apply, which is why we start with where you are today, whether that is a smaller employer or a larger one.
Talk to us about HR consulting and advisory in Bloomfield Hills
Send us your renewal or book a 30-minute call. Bring your toughest HR question. Visit us at 41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350 East, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, or call 248.370.8853.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
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