Every expensive HR problem started as a cheap question.
HR, compliance, and employee relations for employers from 25 to 1,000 people — in one state or twenty. Ask first — before the termination, the reclassification, the job posting. Not after the charge arrives.
Start where you are
Three ways in
Most people find me in one of three situations, whatever their size. Pick the one that sounds like you.
You're not sure what you're exposed to
A 30-point HR compliance review covering classification, I-9s, your handbook, postings, leave, accommodations, and pay transparency. You get findings ranked critical, high, and medium — each with the exposure, the fix, and the effort involved.
$2,000–3,200
What a risk review coversYou need HR judgment on retainer
A senior HR partner every month — policy work, employee relations, manager coaching, and someone to call before you decide. For companies without HR, and for HR teams who want backup on the hard calls.
$1,200–1,600/month
Compare retainer tiersIt's already happening
A complaint. A resignation you didn't expect. A letter from an agency. You didn't ask first — that's fine, most people don't. Investigations, terminations, reductions in force, and accommodation disputes, handled fast.
Fixed fee or hourly
Get help todayFree, takes 90 seconds
Check your last three job postings
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now have pay transparency laws on the books, and roughly a dozen of them require a pay range in the posting itself. Two more took effect in 2026 alone. If you hire remotely, you are almost certainly subject to at least one of them — and the rules are not the same in any two states.
Penalties reach $10,000 per posting in some states. The single most common cause is somebody copying last year's posting.
Send me your last three postings and the states you hire in. I'll tell you free whether they pass.
Send me my postingsWhat the strictest states require
- An hourly rate or salary range you genuinely expect to pay
- A general description of bonuses, commissions, and other compensation
- A general description of benefits
- The date applications close
- Notice to existing employees, often the same day you post externally
Requirements vary by state, and some apply based on employer size or whether the role could be performed remotely from that state. Verify against the specific states you hire in.
For companies from roughly 250 to 1,000 people
Already have an HR team?
Then you don't need fractional HR — you need capability your team doesn't have, or capacity it doesn't have room for. That's a different conversation, and usually a project rather than a retainer.
Specialist project work
Compensation structure and salary bands. Pay equity analysis. Career frameworks. Multi-state compliance mapping. Handbook and policy rebuilds. HRIS selection and implementation. M&A people due diligence. Reductions in force.
$4,000–60,000 per project
Scope a projectInterim HR leadership
Your HR director left, or is on leave, and the search will take four months. I step in three or four days a week — run the function, keep the compliance calendar moving, support your managers, and hand over cleanly to whoever you hire.
$9,600–20,000/month
Discuss interim coverBackup for your HR team
A capable HR generalist or manager running a function alone still needs somewhere to take the hard calls. Investigations, terminations at senior level, accommodation disputes, and multi-state questions — on retainer or hourly, working with your team rather than around them.
$2,800–3,800/month, or hourly
See how that worksLarger engagements get more than one person. I work with a bench of experienced HR professionals and bring them in when the scope calls for it, while remaining your point of contact and accountable for the work. Capacity is not the constraint.
Before we've worked together
What a risk review usually finds
These aren't hypotheticals. They're the findings that come up again and again — at 40 employees and at 700.
A salaried role that isn't actually exempt
A job title is not an overtime exemption. Several states set salary thresholds above the federal one, so the same role can be exempt in one state and not in another. Unpaid overtime accrues quietly for years before anyone notices.
Contractors who look like employees
Misclassification exposes you to back taxes, benefits, and penalties from several agencies at once, and the worker doesn't have to complain for it to surface.
I-9s with missing sections or no records at all
Per-form penalties, and the paperwork violations are the easy ones to prove.
A handbook that contradicts what managers actually do
Worse than no handbook. It becomes the document used to show you didn't follow your own policy.
An accommodation request nobody documented
Failing to run and record an interactive process is often more damaging than the decision you reached.
Termination files with no supporting documentation
"Bad attitude" in a personnel file is not a defense. It's evidence for the other side.
The idea behind the name
Ask first. Not after.
A wrongful termination claim usually began as a manager who fired someone on a Friday with nothing in the file. A wage audit began as a job title someone assumed was exempt. A $10,000 fine began as a posting copied from an old one.
None of those needed a lawyer. They needed a two-minute question. I'm priced and set up to be asked early, and often, and about small things.
Get the Ask First ChecklistWho I work with
| If you're… | What usually brings you here |
|---|---|
| 25–100 employees, no HR | The founder or office manager has been handling HR by instinct. It worked at twelve people. It doesn't at sixty. |
| 100–350 employees, one HR person | You have someone capable running HR alone, with nobody to escalate to and no bandwidth for projects. |
| 350–1,000 employees, a real HR team | You need capability the team doesn't have — comp structure, pay equity, multi-state mapping, an investigation at senior level — or cover for a vacancy. |
| Employing across state lines | Remote hiring made expansion easy and compliance hard. Every new state changed your registrations, leave rules, pay rules, and posting requirements overnight. |
| Dealing with something right now | A complaint, a threat, an agency letter. You need someone competent today, not a proposal next week. |
Remote-first, working with employers nationwide. If you have fewer than ten employees and no plans to grow, you probably don't need me yet — you need good templates and a compliance calendar, and I'll tell you that on the call rather than sell you something.
Not sure where you stand?
A free 30-minute risk review. You describe what's going on, I name the two or three things I'd fix first. No pitch deck, no obligation.
Book a free 30-minute risk reviewOr call 786-570-0972 · ask@askfirsthr.com