Sr. Manager, Employee Relations and Compliance

Company: Clare Foundation, Inc.
Location: Santa Monica
Posted on: December 30, 2025

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description Date: October 31, 2025 Job Title: Employee Relations and Compliance Manager Department: Human Resources Reports to: Sr. Director of Human Resources Location: Santa Monica, CA FLSA Status: Exempt Shift: Day About CLARE|MATRIX: CLARE|MATRIX “CM” is a nonprofit organization providing effective and compassionate treatment, recovery, and prevention services for alcoholism and substance use to individuals, families, and the community. Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, CLARE|MATRIX maintains multiple facilities in the Southern California region. Since 1970, CLARE|MATRIX has provided quality substance use and mental health treatment to men, women, and youth in southern California. Summary Under the supervision of the Sr. Director of Human Resources, the Employee Relations and Compliance Manager is responsible for all aspects of the organization's employee relations, compliance, and risk management programs whilst supporting a culture of fairness, inclusion, and accountability. The position partners closely HR leadership and management to ensure consistent application of HR policies, compliance standards, and best practices. Supervisory Responsibilities: This position does not have direct reports. Essential Duties and Responsibilities To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function, with or without accommodation. The requirements listed below are representative of the duties, responsibilities, knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Employee Relations Investigations Ensures employee relations investigations, correction actions, and performance management matters that may be complex, ambiguous and sensitive, are compliant with federal, California, and local employment laws, and company policy and procedures. Conduct internal investigations into allegations and concerns of, but not limited to, misconduct, harassment, workplace violence, violations of the company’s Ethical Code of Conduct, the California AOD Counselor Code of Conduct, and company policies and procedures. Case Management Develop and maintain a standardized case intake workflow that defines steps from incident report to resolution. Define and implement multiple intake channels to ensure accessibility. Maintain accurate, well-documented case files including collecting relevant summaries from employees. Prepare timely reports with clear findings, conclusions, and recommendations building data credibility for trend and risk factors and compliance audits. Develop and manage service level expectations, and timely case summary documentation and tracking while driving continuous improvement of ER processes, tools, and investigation protocols. Communication Builds effective partnerships across the company acting as a trusted advisor promoting a culture of accountability and respect. Interpret and apply understanding of company policy, practice and relevant employment law to provide guidance and clarification to managers. Guidance and Issue Resolution Guide managers on performance management issues, to ensure compliance and fairness. Advises on appropriate training for managers and employees on, but not limited to, conflict resolution, communication skills, and company policies to foster a respectful and positive work environment Resolve issues and conflicts by mediating and facilitating effective communication between parties. Makes fair recommendations for issue resolution including corrective action, performance and improvement plans up to and including termination of employment. Ensures timely follow-up of deadlines. Employment Termination Documentation: Responsible for preparing and providing termination packages to affected employees including partnering with Payroll and HR to coordinate final pay and required notices (EDD, COBRA, HIPP) are prepared compliantly and timely. Compliance and Risk Management Monitors and ensures compliance with and provides guidance on federal, state, and local employment laws including, but not limited to EEO, ADA, FMLA, CFRA, PDL, PWFA, HWHFA, FLSA, Ban-the-Box, At-Will employment, and company policies. Conduct regular reviews of HR policies and practices to ensure effectiveness and alignment with legislation and best practices. Review background checks and drug screens in compliance with relevant laws. Identify and mitigate workplace risks, drawing on both internal data and external insights to anticipate challenges and develop proactive solutions such as policy updates, manager guidance, and/or training interventions. Lead HR compliance audits, risk assessments, and internal controls including managing employee recordkeeping, and regular review and update of compliance posters and other required disclosures and communication to the company. Ensure timely trainings are completed by staff including, but not limited to sexual harassment, workplace violence, and SAPC training. Worker’s Compensation Serves as the primary contact for work-related illness and injuries providing the DWC-1 to affected employee and coordinating the return-to-work process ensuring modified duty accommodations comply with laws, regulations and requirements including but not limited to Cal/OSHA, ADA, and FEHA. Timely submits claims to the company’s Worker’s Comp. carrier and maintains timely reporting including, but not limited to, the annual EEO-1 and premium audit. Leaves of Absence Responsible for leave of absence programs in compliance with, but not limited to ADA, FMLA, CFRA, PDL, PWFA, HWHFA ensuring timely eligibility determinations and accurate documentation ensuring timely follow-up of deadlines. Lead the interactive process ensuring compliance with ADA and FEHA working with employees to review reasonable accommodation requests. Ensures timely status updates with payroll, benefits, security, and EMR systems. Performance and Evaluations OKRs and KPIs Partner with HR to develop and manage a structured OKR and KPI framework defining measurable objectives that align with organizational goals, employee effectiveness, compliance performance, and company culture. Coach managers toward performance issue resolution using tools including a performance improvement plan “PIP”, corrective action, or other appropriate documentation ensuring timely follow-up to meet deadlines for performance improvement thresholds. Evaluations Partner with HR to manage the company’s performance evaluation process including developing a framework that drives accountability, professional growth, and effectiveness. Foster a culture of high performance and development by ensuring evaluations meet OKRs and KPIs coaching managers on how to document employee performance objectively and provide balanced feedback to support continuous professional development, capacity and capability. Employee Handbook and Policy Partner with HR to prepare and continuously update the company’s employee handbook to federal, state, county and local employment law. Partner with HR and Compliance to draft effective employee and company policies. Reporting: Prepare timely reports and metrics for leadership regarding compliance, employee relations, and risk management trends and risk factors using data and case trends to generate actionable insights and measure the effectiveness of ER interventions. Teamwork and Collaboration Communication: Work in collaboration with HR, stakeholders and cross-functional teams. Respond to staff in a professional and courteous manner. Staff Meetings: Participate in staff meetings, one-on-one meetings with supervisors, and other meetings as required. Mission and Values: Maintain knowledge, understanding and application of CLARE|MATRIX’s mission, vision, and philosophy. Builds staff accountability through performance to the company’s mission and values. Education and Training: Participate in ongoing training, team meetings, and certifications to maintain eligibility for the role. Contribute to a healthy work environment by cultivating and maintaining appropriate boundaries and professional demeanor at all times. Secondary Areas of Responsibility Other duties as assigned Education and Experience Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or a relevant field and a minimum of five years related experience, or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities. Must have at least 3 years of direct experience managing complex employee relations with favorable outcomes. Must have current and valid First Aid and CPR certification. Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Experience Must have a high degree of professional integrity and discretion with a commitment to confidentiality and ethical decision-making. Comprehensive knowledge of federal, state and local employment laws together with demonstrated expertise in applying at-will employment consistently, lawfully, and with sound judgment in all employment actions. Expertise in conducting impartial investigations and employee relations reviews, preparing documentation and recommending sound and favorable outcomes. Must be proactive, willing, and able to implement new processes. Advanced organizational and problem-solving skills. Ability to handle multiple projects/priorities simultaneously with an effective outcome. A commitment to maintaining the highest level of discretion and confidentiality. Must possess strong service-orientation skills. Experience building effective relationships, credibility and trust with employees and management. Excellent and effective verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills. PC proficiency, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and online research. Physical Demands: While performing the responsibilities of the job, the employee is continuously required to talk and hear. The employee is continuously required to sit and use their hands and fingers, to handle or feel. The employee is regularly required to stand, walk, and reach with arms and hands overhead or below the waist. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee is regularly required to balance. The employee is occasionally required to lift, carry, push or pull up to 10 pounds. Vision abilities required by this job include close vision. The candidate must be able to complete all physical requirements to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act “ADA” and applicable state and local laws, the company will consider reasonable accommodations that enable qualified applicants or employees to perform the essential functions of the job, provided that such accommodations do not create an under hardship on the operation of the business. Medical History: All employees who have or require contact with participants, or in food preparation, shall complete a health screening report or a health questionnaire. A health screening report will be provided upon hire. For all residential and detox employees, a health screening report will be completed and signed off by a medical practitioner for clearance. All employees will complete a self-report screening questionnaire. A TB test will be conducted under a licensed medical supervision not more than 60 calendar days prior to 7 calendar days after employment and renewed annually from the date of the last tuberculosis test. Staff with a known record of tuberculosis or a record of positive testing, shall not be required to obtain a tuberculosis skin test. Unless there is documentation that the staff have completed at least 6 months of preventive therapy, the staff shall be required to obtain, within 45 calendar days of employment, a chest x-ray result and a physician’s statement that the staff does not have tuberculosis and has not been under regular care and monitoring for tuberculosis. A chest x-ray within the prior 6 months is acceptable. The physician’s statement shall be renewed annually. Work Environment: This job will be primarily located at the CLARE|MATRIX facilities in Santa Monica, California. This job is primarily an office environment and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and keyboards. The work environment is fast-paced and dynamic. The work requires the ability to work in a confined area. The work environment may involve exposure to participants experiencing challenging behaviors including occasional acts of aggression. While performing the responsibilities of the job, the work environment characteristics are representative of the environment the job holder will encounter. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Disclaimer: The employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily and, if requested, reasonable accommodation will be provided to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship for the Company. Furthermore, job descriptions may change over time as requirements and employee skill levels change. The Company retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position. Conclusion: This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the functions, job responsibilities and expectations of the role. This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of qualifications, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.

Keywords: Clare Foundation, Inc., Vista , Sr. Manager, Employee Relations and Compliance, Human Resources , Santa Monica, California