The Office of the Secretary of State records show over 62,000 registered nonprofit corporations in Washington. Most nonprofits are small, volunteer-run organizations. The milestone of preparing to hire your nonprofit’s first employee can be both exciting and confusing.
You may wonder, where do we start? What’s actually involved with hiring our first employee? Who am I supposed to contact? We know limitations on your time, funding, and technical knowledge can make it challenging to navigate and follow employer laws, rules, and regulations. As you prepare to hire your first employee, you must complete a few key steps:
- Become a new Washington employer: Update your nonprofit’s state business license with the Washington Department of Revenue. For more information, visit the Department of Revenue’s webpage on hiring employees.
- Open a workers’ compensation account: After registering with the Department of Revenue as a Washington employer, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) will follow up with you directly. L&I will receive your nonprofit’s application from the Department of Revenue, and it will be assigned to an account manager who will contact you to complete the process.
- Set Up an Accident Prevention Program (APP): All Washington employers are required to have a written APP that is customized to their organization. L&I offers free safety and health consultations to learn the requirements that apply to your organization and to get assistance with your APP development, as well as free templates.
- Establish employment policies: Your employment policies, systems, and practices help meet employer compliance requirements and overall operations. An employee handbook is an ideal way to document information around topics like employment laws and regulations, general employment policies (e.g., whistleblower policy, conflict of interest policy, confidentiality policy, etc.), safety, and employee benefits.
- Some employment policies must be in writing. For example, you must have a written paid sick leave policy if your nonprofit does any of the following:
- Uses a different paid sick leave accrual year (e.g., fiscal year, benefit year, etc.) other than a calendar year (January 1 – December 31)
- Requires employees to provide reasonable notice when using their paid sick leave
- Requires verification for absences lasting longer than three days
- Provides employees access to paid sick leave before it has accrued (i.e., frontloading)
- Uses a paid time off (PTO) program
- Offers a shared leave program of employees
- Even if your nonprofit does not plan to implement any of the above policies, adopting a written paid sick leave policy is highly encouraged. Having written employment policies can help employees understand their rights as well protect your nonprofit.
- Be sure to check your local city laws as some cities (including Seattle, Tacoma, and the City of SeaTac) have more generous paid sick leave ordinances. In these cases, an employer must apply the paid sick leave requirements that are most favorable to employees.
- Some employment policies must be in writing. For example, you must have a written paid sick leave policy if your nonprofit does any of the following:
- Set Up Recordkeeping Systems: Make sure your recordkeeping systems address payroll and personnel records.
- Washington State law requires employers to keep employees’ payroll records for at least three years plus the year-to-date.
- Federal law requires employers to keep employees’ personnel files for at least one year. Personnel records detail an employee’s performance, knowledge, skills, abilities, and behavior as it relates to their job.
If your nonprofit plans to hire minors there are additional items to be aware of and address, including:
- You must obtain a minor work permit through the Department of Revenue before hiring.
- Ensure the job duties and hours outlined for the position are permitted for minors.
- You must have completed Parent/School Authorization forms for each minor employed.
L&I’s webpage on “How to Hire Minors” is a great resource to learn more about this topic.
After you have the primary compliance parts in place, we recommend checking out NAWA’s Workers in Nonprofits (WiN) resources. WiN pulls together information customized to nonprofits to help employers navigate the lifecycle of their workers. There are many components to employer compliance and no one way to support your workers. The WiN resources provide tools to use throughout a worker’s journey with your nonprofit. People matter, and your nonprofit’s new employees are your most value asset.