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| Employee Handbooks |
A written employee handbook detailing your company's employment policies and procedures can take the place of employment contracts with many employees, and protect you if a misunderstanding or conflict with an employee develops into a termination lawsuit. In some instances, an employee handbook may also serve as evidence of terms of employment when they are not otherwise reduced to writing in a written employment contract or other documents.
How Formal Does An Employee Handbook Need to Be?
There's no need to print your handbook on fancy paper or have professional graphics. What's most important is the content, not the way it looks.
What Should An Employee Handbook Contain?
From an employer's perspective, the handbook should only contain provisions that are going to help the employer with respect to employment issues. In most instances, for example, there should be a statement right up front stating that, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing, employment is "at will," which means that an employee can be fired at any time without cause. There should also be a provision that makes it clear that the handbook can be modified or amended by the employer at any time and for any reason.
It usually doesn't hurt to make self-serving statements (for example, including a statement about being an equal opportunity employer even though this obligation may be imposed by law in any event). But it certainly could be a problem for an employer to include provisions in a handbook that don't reflect actual conditions of employment or that may impose unintended duties or obligations on the employer. (Believe it or not, this happens all the time when employers simply decide to copy over and use a "canned" set of policies and procedures they have taken from somewhere else without making sure that the handbooks conform in all respects to their particular business operations.)
An employee handbook will usually include:
- Working hours and days and break times
- Overtime and comp time rules
- Sick days and sick leave policies
- How sick leave is accumulated
- Family leave policies
- Health and other benefits
- Official paid holidays
- Vacation policies How vacation time is accrued and rules as to how and when employees can take it
- Pension plans and cafeteria benefits plans
- Procedures for specific work duties
- Dress codes
- Safety and hygiene rules
- A statement that employment is "at will" which means you can fire an employee at any time without cause
It's extremely important to have employee handbooks drafted by or at least reviewed by legal counsel periodically in order to make sure that they comply with applicable law.
A lawyer will also be able to advise an employer on important legal strategies to take into account that might not be so obvious. For example, it may or may not be a good idea for the employee handbook to make reference to probationary periods of employment under circumstances where "at will" employment is intended. The concern here is that, by having a policy that provides for a probationary period, it may imply that an employment relationship is something other than on an "at will" basis (for example, permanent?) once an employee gets beyond the probationary period.
If you make it a practice to present each new employees with an employee handbook on their first day on the job, you won't accidentally overlook anyone.
It's also a good idea to have the employee sign and date a statement that he or she has received the handbook. That way, you can prove at a later date that the employee had the information in the handbook. |
