Updating your employee handbook: The essentials
It’s easy to overlook the importance of keeping the employee handbook current. Here’s a checklist you can use to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered.
A clearly-written, well organized handbook lays out the company’s expectations for employees. It also makes clear what the employee can expect from you.
And when done correctly, it can protect the employer from all sorts of legal headaches.
Sounds simple, right? Maybe not. Badly written or incomplete handbooks have gotten firms in trouble for everything from discriminatory hiring practices to unwittingly creating an employment contract.
At-will employment
Almost every state in the union regards the relationship between employer and employee as “at will.” And you don’t want naything in your handbook to endanger that status.
So you need to emphasize two key issues:
- all employees are employed at will, and thus, they can be terminated at any time (except in union situations), and
- the handbook is not intended to be an employment contract.
Hiring
You want to be able to attract the best employees possible, without discriminating on the basis of sex, religion, race, color, age, disability or national origin.
Thus, your policy needs to:
- clearly state that no promises made during the employment interview can negate the employment at-will concept
- recognize that applicants can’t be denied employment because of race, sex, religion or national origin
- state that providing false information during the employment process will be grounds for termination
- explain the drug and alcohol screening process
- explain that a reasonable accommodation will be offered to all employees covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- explain that an accommodation can be refused if it constitutes an undue hardship for the company
- consider the impact of an accommodation on the ability of other employees to do their jobs, and
- explain when employees with alcohol and drug problems will be offered accommodation and when they won’t be.
Terminations
No section of your handbook will come under closer scrutiny than the discharge policy.
Resources
Post Your Resume to 65+ Job Sites
Resume Service
