Director of Compliance

Director of Compliance

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Work Environment: In-office

Reports To: General Counsel

Travel: As needed to branch and client locations

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced Director of Compliance to lead and strengthen compliance programs across our growing, multi-state staffing organization. This individual will develop, implement, and monitor policies, procedures, controls, and training programs that ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment regulations, client requirements, contractual obligations, and internal standards.

The Director of Compliance will serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership and partner closely with Human Resources, Operations, Risk Management, Safety, Payroll, Legal, and branch leadership. This position will primarily oversee compliance for temporary and contingent workers, high-volume hiring, client worksites, wage-and-hour practices, co-employment and joint-employer risk, mandated leave requirements, worker classification, and staffing-specific regulatory obligations.

We're looking for a hands-on, solutions-focused leader who can interpret complex regulations, identify organizational risks, and build practical processes that protect the organization while supporting operational excellence and continued growth.

Essential Responsibilities

Compliance Strategy and Regulatory Oversight

• Develop, implement, and oversee the company's enterprise-wide compliance strategy, policies, procedures, and internal controls.
• Monitor changes to federal, state, and local employment laws and evaluate their impact on corporate departments, branches, client accounts, and temporary employees.
• Ensure compliance with applicable requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Affordable Care Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, equal employment opportunity laws, immigration regulations, and other employment-related laws.
• Maintain a comprehensive compliance calendar covering regulatory filings, internal audits, branch audits, policy reviews, required training, license renewals, reporting deadlines, and recurring compliance obligations.
• Provide regular compliance updates, trend reporting, and risk assessments to executive leadership.

Temporary and Contingent Workforce Compliance

• Oversee compliance programs specific to temporary, contingent, contract, and direct-hire staffing operations.
• Ensure temporary employees are properly onboarded, classified, paid, assigned, and supported in accordance with applicable laws, client agreements, and company policies.
• Monitor and mitigate co-employment and joint-employer risk by establishing clear responsibilities between Surge Staffing, its clients, and assigned employees.
• Guide the appropriate supervision, direction, performance management, discipline, and termination of temporary employees.
• Ensure staffing practices comply with applicable federal, state, and local temporary-worker laws, including assignment notice, pay transparency, wage notice, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.
• Monitor worker-classification practices involving temporary employees, independent contractors, exempt and nonexempt employees, and other workforce categories.

Wage, Hour, Payroll, and Leave Compliance

• Oversee compliance with federal, state, and local wage-and-hour requirements, including minimum wage, overtime, timekeeping, meal and rest periods, reporting time, travel time, final-pay requirements, pay-frequency rules, and wage deductions.
• Partner with Payroll, Human Resources, and Operations to review and resolve pay-practice concerns affecting temporary and internal employees.
• Monitor multi-state paid sick leave, family and medical leave, mandated leave, predictive scheduling, and other employee-benefit requirements.

Hiring and Pre-Employment Compliance

• Oversee Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance across the organization, with particular attention to decentralized and high-volume hiring environments.
• Establish and monitor procedures for completing, correcting, retaining, and auditing employment-eligibility documentation.
• Oversee compliance related to background checks, drug screenings, motor-vehicle reports, occupational testing, and other pre-employment requirements.
• Ensure background-screening processes comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, applicable ban-the-box laws, individualized assessment requirements, adverse-action procedures, and state and local restrictions.
• Partner with Operations and clients to confirm that screening requirements are lawful, job-related, consistently applied, and accurately documented.

Client and Assignment Compliance

• Review client contracts, service agreements, job orders, and assignment requirements to identify compliance obligations and potential organizational risk.
• Establish procedures to confirm that temporary employees meet client-specific qualifications, certifications, training, screening, and documentation requirements before beginning an assignment.
• Partner with Legal, Sales, Operations, and Risk Management to address contractual provisions involving indemnification, insurance, employee supervision, workplace safety, background screening, wage requirements, confidentiality, and regulatory responsibilities.
• Guide temporary employee assignment changes, worksite transfers, timekeeping practices, attendance concerns, performance issues, investigations, and assignment terminations.
• Monitor compliance requirements affecting government contracts, regulated industries, and client-specific workforce programs, as applicable.

Workplace Safety and Client Worksites

• Partner with Safety and Risk Management to define and document the respective workplace-safety responsibilities of Surge Staffing and its clients.
• Ensure appropriate processes are in place to review client worksites, identify assignment-specific hazards, confirm required personal protective equipment, and communicate safety expectations to temporary employees.
• Monitor compliance involving safety orientation, job-specific training, incident reporting, OSHA recordkeeping, return-to-work programs, and corrective actions.
• Support the investigation of workplace incidents, injuries, workers' compensation matters, claims trends, and client-worksite concerns.
• Escalate and address situations where a client's worksite, assignment, or job responsibility creates an unacceptable compliance or safety risk.

Audits, Investigations, and Corrective Actions

• Develop and manage a risk-based compliance audit program covering corporate departments, branch operations, employee files, client accounts, payroll practices, hiring documentation, training records, and assignment requirements.
• Conduct recurring branch compliance audits and establish measurable standards for documenting findings, assigning corrective actions, monitoring completion, and escalating unresolved concerns.
• Identify compliance vulnerabilities and develop practical corrective-action and risk-mitigation plans.
• Support and lead investigations involving employee complaints, policy violations, discrimination or harassment allegations, wage concerns, workplace incidents, client complaints, or regulatory issues.
• Maintain accurate, confidential documentation on policies, audits, investigations, training, corrective actions, and regulatory matters.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for government inquiries, agency charges, audits, subpoenas, and other compliance-related requests.
• Collaborate with internal or external legal counsel and specialized advisors when additional guidance is required.

Training and Policy Administration

• Develop, maintain, and regularly update compliance policies, standard operating procedures, tools, and reference materials.
• Create and deliver compliance training for corporate employees, field leadership, branch teams, recruiters, sales professionals, and other applicable employees.
• Ensure required training is completed, documented, and refreshed according to the compliance calendar.
• Translate regulatory and contractual requirements into clear, practical processes that employees can understand and consistently follow.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop compliance team members.
• Establish clear departmental goals, priorities, service expectations, and performance measures.
• Build strong working relationships with executive leadership, corporate departments, branch teams, clients, and operational stakeholders.
• We provide timely, practical guidance that helps leaders make informed, compliant business decisions.
• Balance risk mitigation with the organization's operational needs, client commitments, and growth objectives.
• Foster a proactive approach to identifying, escalating, and resolving compliance concerns.
• Drive consistency and accountability across a decentralized, multi-state branch network.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, Business Administration, Legal Studies, Risk Management, or a related field required.
• Advanced degree or relevant professional certification preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressive experience in compliance, employment law, human resources, risk management, regulatory affairs, or related discipline.
• Experience supporting a multi-state, multi-location organization required.
• We prefer candidates with experience in staffing, workforce solutions, temporary labor, light industrial, manufacturing, logistics, or another high-volume employment environment.
• Ability to interpret complex regulations and translate them into clear, workable operational guidance.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and relationship-management skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and HR, payroll, compliance, document-management, or applicant-tracking systems.
• Ability to travel to branch and client locations as business needs require

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