Employment Handbooks

Employee handbooks can be an important communication tool between your company and employees.  The purpose of your employee handbook is two-fold: (1) sets your company expectations for your employees, and (2) describes what your employees can expect from your company.  With so many federal, state, and local laws and regulations, it is imperative to have a written document that is up-to-date, clearly written, and unambiguous.  Employee misunderstandings or management misstatements can create legal liabilities when not backed-up by a well prepared employee handbook.  Alternatively, poorly written handbooks can also create a liability as they may be viewed by courts as a contractual obligation.

Key points in developing employee handbooks:

• The tone should be positive throughout.  Use the introduction as an opportunity for your company president to welcome your employees to the company while addressing the mission, philosophy or general principles of the business. 
• Protect the company by including disclaimers and employment-at-will statements.
• If you have different employee categories that influence salary administration, eligibility for benefits or leave, travel reimbursements, or other aspects of your business, define the categories at the beginning of the handbook.
• Separate out documents that do not need to be included (i.e. insurance or retirement plan documents), but address and reference them in the Handbook.  Include enough detail to clarify your points, but not so much as to overwhelm or confuse the employee.
• Avoid using restrictive language such as "will", "must", or "in all cases".  These words may bind you to actions you don’t want to be forced to take.
• Avoid “probationary” periods of employment.  Probationary periods jeopardize the employment-at-will relationship and imply that employees are entitled to continued employment after the probation is over.  Even though words like “training” “orientation” or "trial" period appear to be safer, some courts have interpreted these in the same way as probationary period.
• Develop an alphabetical listing of topics or index to direct your employees to the exact section for which they are seeking information.
• Include an Acknowledgement Form that requires each employee to sign indicating that they have read and understand the contents of the Handbook.