Earn An HR Certification!
Benefits Of An HR Certification Or An HR Certificate Program
HR certification programs offer HR professionals a chance to acquire essential skills that can help enhance and advance both your knowledge and your career. Benefits of a Human Resources certification include:
- Increased knowledge, skills, and competency
- Additional credibility and validity
- Differentiates you from co-workers or competition
- Increases your job mobility – and makes you more likely to receive pay increases!
Why HRcertification.com for your HR Certificate or Certification Programs
HRcertication.com has provided HR certification courses and HR certificate programs since 1996 via online, in-person, and virtual HR certification courses as described below.
About Our HR Certification Programs
Our Human Resources certification courses cover federally-mandated compliance requirements for FMLA, ADA, COBRA, Payroll, Retirement, Cafeteria Plan, and other laws. These courses are used primarily by HR managers and human resources professionals who must handle administration / compliance for these laws. In other words, the people sending out the appropriate forms and notices, collecting premiums or taking deductions, and communicating with current and ex-employees.
Each of our HR Certificate Programs includes not only the training on how to effectively comply with the mandated requirements, but updates whenever the laws change, as well as the ability to earn a
Certified Administrator" designation by taking the topic-specific exam.
About Our HR Certificate Programs
Our Human Resources certification programs are used primarily by HR Managers, Business Owners, and other professionals who need to understand the basics, theories, and best practices behind a specific topic such as FMLA administration, but do not necessarily need to know the exact details behind the topic, nor want or need a certification on that topic.
The one exception here is our Internal Investigation Certificate Program, which provides detailed help for handling situations such as bullying, retaliation, fraud, abuse, or other topics that could easily turn into a lawsuit or damaging publicity. We offer this as a certificate program rather that a certification program because internal or a workplace investigation is really about hearing and analyzing information, speaking with witnesses, etc. - in other words, a "process" rather than a definitive compliance requirements for how or when should you provide an FMLA or COBRA notice.
What Is An HR Certification Program? How Do HR Certification Programs Differ From HR Certificate Programs?
Simply stated, an HR Certification Program provides training, then testing against what you have learned, whereby an HR Certificate Program provides the training, but does not test you against the learned content.
What Are The Best Online HR Certification Courses?
Below are our best and best-selling HR certification and HR certificate courses. Note: Some of the recommendations below are offered in online, as well as virtual or in-person formats.
The Best Online HR Certification Courses
The online Human Resources certification courses listed below help HR professionals to comply with a variety of HR compliance requirements. Each of these online HR certification courses provides very in-depth coverage of the topic, and includes lots of tips, examples, and procedural recommendations, as well as free updates whenever the law changes! Click on the course title for more details.
Certification Programs For HR Compliance
Listed below are several great Human Resources certification programs to help with your HR compliance needs. Each of these is an online HR certification program that includes numerous tips, examples, and procedural recommendations to help meet your HR compliance responsibilities.
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FMLA Training & Certification Program
When an employee misses work, it is the employer's responsibility to determine whether FMLA applies. You can't afford not to know the rules!
Our FMLA Training & Certification Program contains comprehensive information about FMLA, including numerous examples, illustrations, and compliance tips to help you understand and comply with FMLA and its requirements.
Besides the basics, our FMLA certification course will teach you how to:
- Distinguish between family leaves and medical leaves and know which are subject to the law
- Identify what constitutes a "serious health condition"
- Determine when an employee on intermittent leave has used up his or her "12 weeks"
- Understand the different considerations for determining a leave year, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach
- Develop notices that comply with the various technical requirements of FMLA
- Comply with the DOL's employment restoration and benefit protection rules
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ADA Training & Certification Program
The Americans with Disabilities Act, or "ADA", prohibits discrimination in recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, pay, social activities, and other privileges of employment.
The ADA also restricts questions that can be asked about an individual's disability, requires employers to make certain "reasonable accommodations", has strict rules on medical certifications, and more. Employers also are required to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others.
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COBRA Training & Certification Program
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) generally requires that a covered group health plan provide an employee, a spouse, and a dependent child who was covered under the plan on the day immediately preceding the occurrence of a qualifying event with the opportunity to continue to participate in the group health plan after such individual's participation in the group health plan would otherwise terminate.
Changing rules, regulations, and court cases make COBRA compliance extremely complex. And as several well-known Fortune 500 companies have learned the hard way, improper COBRA administration can have costly results.
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The Integrated Leave Management Training & Certification Program
Leave Management is fraught with peril for HR Administrators under numerous instances. For instance, when does COBRA apply when someone does not return from FMLA leave? Does ADA or FMLA law take precedence? Does a return from a Workers' Comp injury provide the need for a Reasonable Accommodation under the ADA?
FMLA, ADA, COBRA, and Workers' Compensation are difficult enough to administer independently, let alone when you must determine which rule or law takes precedence over another. Our "Integrated Leave Management" Training & Certification Program provides excellent guidance on administering these complex laws, including:
- Know how to integrate FMLA, ADA, COBRA, and Workers' Compensation leave rules and requirements
- Determine which law has precendence in certain situations
- Understand when - and if - COBRA should be offered in relation to FMLA leaves
- How USERRA integrates with FMLA, ADA, COBRA, and Cafeteria Plans
The Program also includes an optional test for those who wish to earn a" Certified Leave Management Administrator" designation.
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Cafeteria Plan Training & Certification Program
Section 125 Cafeteria Plans are one of the most-used benefits offered by employers in the United States, yet they are often among the hardest to design and administer because of the numerous design and reimbursement options and the complexity of handling reimbursement requests. The requirements for employers include:
- Determining eligible benefits
- Setting election caps
- Establishing election periods
- The Use-It-Or-Lose-It rule
- Status Change rules
- Acknowledging Highly-Compensated individuals
- Passing non-discrimination testing
Take this course to help ensure you handle your compliance requirements correctly!
Payroll Certification Programs
Listed below are our Payroll Professional certification programs. You can earn a payroll certification on individual payroll areas such as operations, reporting, and management, or take the Certified Payroll Administrator certification program to get yourself trained on all areas of payroll compliance.
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Certified Payroll Administrator
Payroll professionals must deal on a daily basis with wage and hour, garnishment, travel, expense, cafeteria plan, retirement plan, fringe benefit, PTO, and numerous other benefits and compliance issues - including the numerous reporting forms and requirements.
Now you can get trained on these requirements, plus enhance your skills with our "Certified Payroll Administrator" designation, which includes separate modules for Wage & Hour, Paycheck Fundamentals, Operations, and Reporting.
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Paycheck Fundamentals Training & Certification Program
Besides the basic payroll laws and regulations, you also will learn the following with our payroll compliance training course:
- To properly identify, pay, and withhold taxes for employees, InPats and ExPats, and other International payroll issues
- How to handle cafeteria plan, sick pay, and other compensation
- The processes for stock options, expense reimbursements, travel pay, relocation, and other "expenses"
- The proper policies, procedures, and documentation requirements for garnishments and levies
- Calculating wage deductions
- Steps for calculating the final paycheck
- What to do with unclaimed paychecks
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Payroll Reporting Training & Certification Program
In addition to the IRS guidelines for payroll recordkeeping, reporting, and other payroll reporting obligations, our Payroll Reporting Training & Certification Program covers the rules and requirements for:
- Reporting wages, tips, and other compensation
- Making federal tax deposits
- Annual federal unemployment tax return (Form 940 or 940EZ)
- Employer's quarterly payroll tax return (Form 941)
- Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax (Form 945)
- Wage and Tax Statements (Form W-2)
- Correctly complete year end requirements
- Establishing the year-beginning requirements
- Complying with IRS guidelines for payroll record keeping
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Payroll Operations Training & Certification Program
Besides the basic payroll laws and regulations, you also will learn the following with our payroll compliance training course:
- The various payroll systems
- Controlling the Payroll Process
- Verifying the reliability of pay data
- Direct Deposit & Pay Cards
- Payroll Interface and Integration options such as Employee Self-Service Systems
- Record Retention
- Audits
- Working With The IRS
- Disaster Recovery
...as well as unclaimed paycheck laws and regulations, unclaimed wage training, and travel pay training for payroll professionals.
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Payroll Management Training & Certification Program
This advanced course provides training to help you to:
- Hire, train, and manage successful payroll professionals
- Establish and maintain self-service, direct deposits, and paycard systems
- Select and implement a payroll system
- Handle and work with audits and disaster recovery plans
- Implement anti-fraud plans
- Comply with the various record retention requirements
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Certified Payroll Manager
Our Certified Payroll Manager training course covers all aspects of payroll, and includes training on how to:
- Properly "classify" workers
- Apply the various exemptions
- Calculate gross pay and properly make deductions
- Properly identify, pay, and withhold taxes for employees
- Administer deferred compensation, cafeteria plan, sick pay, and other compensation
- Handle stock options, expense reimbursements, relocation, and other "expenses"
- Follow the proper policies, procedures, and documentation requirements for garnishments and levies
- Properly complete and file all required reporting requirements
- Correctly complete year end requirements and establish the year-beginning requirements
- Implement and maintain fraud, audit, disaster recovery, and record retention processes and procedures
Retirement Plan Certification Programs
Listed below are our Retirement Plan certification programs. Simply click on a course title for specifics.
401(k) Training & Certification Program
Need a 401k certification? Our 401(k) Plan Training & Certification Program is loaded with information on plan design, administrative options, and compliance requirements to help you understand the many and complex 401(k) rules and the required information needed for retirement planning administration.
Defined Benefit Training & Certification Program
Our Defined Benefit Plan Training & Certification Program is loaded with information on plan design, administrative options, and compliance requirements for establishing and managing a Defined Benefits Plan.
Cash Balance Plans Training & Certification Program
This course's award-winning interface is certified for design excellence by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), and contains numerous tips, examples, and interactive content so that you are confident that you are learning, and in where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
Plan Loans Training & Certification Program
This course provides an overview of the rules that apply to participant loans under qualified plans (including 403(b) plans). It will help you understand these rules, and includes numerous tips, examples, and procedural recommendations that are interspersed with interactive Q and A sessions to help your learn quickly.
Act now to become a Certified Retirement Administrator by ordering one of our Certified Retirement Administrator training courses.
The Best Online HR Certificate Programs
The majority of the online HR certificate programs listed below are available not only online, but via virtual and in-person formats. Simply click on the course title for more details.
Which HR Certification Programs Are Best For Beginners?
The answer to which HR Certification courses are best for beginners depends upon a number of factors. For instance, if you are new to HR, our HR Generalist Certificate Program is probably best for you as it provides a broad overview for anyone new to HR.
Similarly, if you work for a small organization, you most likely have to handle all or a vast majority of Human Resources compliance requirements, namely everything from benefits to payroll to retirement plans to cafeteria plans and more.
Conversely, if you work - or plan to work - for a larger organization, you are most likely to "specialize" in one of more of the above-mentioned topic areas, so should take training on that specific topic. For instance, if you are assigned to handle COBRA administration, you should take our COBRA Training & Certification Program; if assigned to handle payroll, take our Payroll course, etc. etc...
Are Online HR Certificate Programs Effective?
One could easily argue that online Human Resources Certification Programs or Payroll Certification Programs are extremely effective learning formats because you not only receive immediate feedback, but an online HR Certificate Program or a Payroll Certification Program means that you are being tested against what you learned.
Take our FMLA Training & Certification Program for example: following standard Instructional Design format, the course is broken into multiple "Lessons" of 20 or so minutes each that cover a specific topic or function. The first page of each Lesson includes Lesson Goals (in other words, the key learning points for that lesson), is then followed by training (in English, not legalese!) that includes numerous tips, examples, and procedural recommendations, then concludes with "End Of Lesson Quiz" questions that not only test the key learning objectives for that lesson, but provide answer rationale to help ensure learning.
Related HR Certification Programs
Add Value To Your Job And Your Organization With A "Certified Administrator" Designation
Compliance requirements for FMLA, ADA, COBRA, Cafeteria Plans, Retirement Plans, Payroll, and the like are very complex and subject your organization to severe fines and penalties for non-compliance - no matter how simple or inadvertent the error may be.
Whether you are new to HR, being cross-trained, or coming from another discipline to take over the compliance requirements for your organization, you want to be certain that you do things correctly.
Our Certified Administrator designation provides great, consistent training from a trusted third party (no more learning from Bob, who learned from Sue, who learned from Mary, etc.), AND improves your personal value to the organization!
Each of these HR certification programs are self-paced, online programs that are designed by industry experts to provide in-depth training on the topic area. Each course includes numerous tips, examples, procedural recommendations, and interactive quizzes to help ensure that you are learning!
And once you complete the course, all content is available as reference materials so you look up things as needed. [
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Gain A Competitive Advantage With A "Certified TPA" Seal
If you provide COBRA, Cafeteria Plan, Retirement, or other TPA services, you know exactly how competitive the marketplace is: you fight against "we can do it cheaper internally" or get stuck in price discussions about proposals from other TPA firms all the time.
But now you don't have to base your marketing on "We're Cheaper". Instead, you can differentiate your firm and lead with your "Certified TPA" seal to win and retain the business!
Benefits of earning a Certified TPA seal include:
- Standardized training from a trusted third-party allows you to provide consistent training to your employees
- Time savings from having to train your staff internally
- Free Management Interface that lets managers view employee progress, test scores, and any incorrectly answered test questions, which is great for remedial training!
- Employee recognition through "Certified Administrator" certificates that are provided to each of your administrators who successfully completes a course
Bottom line, your Certified TPA seal tells your prospects and clients that your staff not only has been trained by a trusted third-party, but have passed a stringent Certification Exam that tests their administrative skills! But don't just take our word for it, we are the featured training partner for the National Association of Professional Benefit Administrators member TPAs!
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