Our Services
Every employer starts with the same questions: Are we doing this right? What are we missing? What happens if someone asks? For small and mid-sized businesses in Maryland and the DC region, the answers are rarely simple. I-9 requirements, wage and hour rules, worker classification, leave, and workplace policy all carry real legal risk, and that risk grows with every person you hire.
PEAK Education offers three ways to work together, each designed for a different stage of business. If you need a knowledgeable sounding board for a specific policy or employee relations question, start with a 1:1 consultation. If you want to find and fix compliance gaps before a regulator does, a one-day compliance audit gives you a clear, prioritized roadmap. And if you’re growing and need steady people-ops guidance before a full-time HR hire makes sense, fractional HR support builds that foundation with you.
Every engagement begins with a conversation. Services are scoped to your business, your industry, and your goals, and I’ll tell you honestly when a matter belongs with an attorney instead.
1:1 HR Advisory Sessions
Sometimes you don't need a full audit or an ongoing HR partner — you need a knowledgeable, experienced sounding board for one specific issue. 1:1 Consultation sessions are built for exactly that: policy design questions, operational feasibility within your local legal context, best-practice guidance, or working through a specific employee relations situation.
Katrina Sten, PHR, brings deep working knowledge of U.S. employment law, along with Maryland and Montgomery County-specific requirements. She is not an attorney and cannot provide legal advice — but she can point you toward the information and resources that inform every recommendation, and tell you clearly when a matter needs to go to a lawyer (and which kind).
How it works:
Start with a free 15-minute discovery call — a scope check to confirm your question fits what a compliance advisor (rather than an attorney) can help with.
Billed at $150/hour, in 30-minute increments, so you only pay for the time you use.
Covers policy drafting, handbook review, disciplinary or termination questions, feasibility of an operational change under MD/Montgomery County law, or general best-practice guidance.
One-Day Compliance Audit
The One-Day Compliance Audit is a preventative review designed to catch employment law gaps while you still have time to fix them — not after a regulator has already flagged your business.
What's included:
Katrina spends 3-4 hours reviewing your policy and process documents and employee records, scoped to your business and industry, generally covering:
I-9 / immigration compliance
Wage and hour (FLSA)
Worker classification (employee vs. contractor)
Termination practices
Leave management
Recruitment practices
Data privacy
Industry-specific requirements (OSHA, childcare licensing, etc., as applicable)
Process and timeline:
Free 30-minute consultation to determine the scope of the audit for your business.
You'll spend a day or two beforehand preparing the requested files and documentation.
Katrina audits your records — on-site within 50 miles of Washington, DC, or remotely (travel beyond 50 miles available for additional compensation).
You'll receive a full written report of findings and recommendations within one week of the audit.
Audits are scheduled during off-peak hours to avoid disrupting your day-to-day operations.
Pricing: $1,850 for up to 20 employees/contractors, plus $90 per additional employee/contractor (maximum 48 total).
Important: This is a preventative service and must be contracted before you are contacted about a government audit or investigation. If you've already been notified of a pending audit, please contact your attorney immediately rather than booking this service.
Fractional HR Support
Fractional HR Support is built for the growing organization that needs strong, experienced HR guidance but isn’t yet ready — or doesn’t yet need — to bring that function in-house. It’s strongly recommended for small businesses planning to grow beyond five employees, when the informal, founder-led approach to people decisions starts to create real legal and operational risk.
This isn’t just compliance maintenance — it’s building the people-ops foundation that lets you grow in the right direction: attracting and retaining strong talent, developing leaders who are good at their jobs and good stewards of the legal side of the business, and protecting what you’ve built as you scale.
What this can include (scoped to your needs): handbook and policy development, onboarding/offboarding process design, manager coaching, performance management systems, recruitment support, ongoing compliance monitoring, HRIS implementation/set-up, and HR project support as it arises.
How it works:
Free 30-minute consultation to determine the scope of your HR/People support needs.
Retainers start at $1,500/month for 10 hours of dedicated HR/People support.
Retainer clients receive 10% off any additional billable hours or other PEAK services.
Shared Terms
Before We Begin
The business owner or primary decision-maker must be present for the discovery call. This is where scope and fit are determined — no service agreement is drafted until this happens.
A signed service agreement, signed non-disclosure agreement, and payment are required before any work begins.
Peak Education, LLC is a licensed and insured business.
Katrina Sten, PHR, is not an attorney and is not licensed to practice law. Guidance provided is based on HR expertise and employment law knowledge, not legal advice, and is not a substitute for counsel from a licensed attorney.
All sales are final. Exceptions apply only in cases of force majeure that render PEAK Education unable to perform the contracted service.
All prices and payments are in USD.
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!