Employee Handbooks: Advanced Legal Lessons

Many San Diego businesses have simple employee handbooks. Often, they are a simple compilation of various company policies and various notices that must be given to employees along with a few tax and immigration forms.

However, beyond a certain size, often five or more employees, it becomes increasingly important that the company’s employee handbook become more formalized. The basics on an employee handbook should include:

• Various employee rights related to pay, overtime, rest breaks, and more
• Family medical leave policies
• Equal employment, anti-harassment, and non-discrimination policies including all the categories protected under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which are: race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, and military or veteran status)
• Reporting procedures and anti-retaliation statements
• Worker’s compensation policies
• Rules and regulations with respect to employee behavior – dress code, cellphone use, use of company resources, and more
• Social media policies
• Discipline and termination policies
• Employee benefits
• Statement of “at-will” employment

Beyond these basics, here are a few more advanced features to add to your employee handbook. Among some advanced lessons are these:

Strong Forceful Tone and Remembering Who is Your Audience

Company policies and procedures are important internally, but remember, ultimately, the key “audience” for your employee handbook is the judge and jury if matters end up in litigation. Thus, the tone of your policies is important. Too soft a tone will suggest that your business is not taking the various matters seriously. Thus, we recommend forceful language such as “shall not” and other strong language indicating the mandatory nature of the policies. Yes, strong language may be off-putting for a new employee, but policies are put in place to comply with the law and to help avoid adverse judgments in the event of litigation. Strong, forceful language indicates that the policies and procedures are important and will be enforced.

Current Handbooks Supersede Previous Versions

Date stamping is important for company policies and procedures. Thus, as each policy is implemented, some notation should be added to the page — as a header or footer, for example — indicating the effective date. Each page should have a date and the employee handbook itself should have a date. As policies are updated, the new versions should be added to the handbook. Furthermore, it is important to include a statement to the effect that “This version supersedes and replaces all previous policies and procedures with respect to ….”

Policies Subject to Change

As indicated, your business should be regularly updating its various policies. This is necessary for business purposes — changes in the marketplace and in the employment environment — and necessary because of changing/evolving law. Language should be added something to the effect that: “The policies included herein are subject to change and revision as appropriate and necessary …”

Call San Diego Corporate Law Today

If you would like more information, contact attorney Michael Leonard, Esq., of San Diego Corporate Law. Mr. Leonard can review your current employee contracts and handbooks, as well as revise or draft new ones depending on the needs of your business. Mr. Leonard has been named a “Rising Star” for three years running by SuperLawyers.com. Contact Mr. Leonard by calling (858) 483-9200 or via email.

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