Handbooks and Policies

No law requires employers to publish employee handbooks or company personnel policies. Nonetheless, company handbooks — if carefully prepared and properly updated — provide important benefits:

• They notify new employees of expectations and consequences.
• They provide a roadmap for managers who are engaged in disciplining and evaluating employees.
• They can spell out benefit programs or leave rights, thereby avoiding confusion on what the law requires and what employees can expect.
• They can reinforce the meal and rest periods, overtime, and other wage rights of employees.
• They can be used as evidence in the defense of employment-related lawsuits.

On the other hand, such manuals may be used to support an employee's claim that he is covered by contract law. Each workplace presents unique employee-communication challenges, including language barriers, geographically dispersed workforces, and foreign workers. 

We have drafted and revised employment policies and manuals for many employers, and work closely with employers in every industry — from small family-owned businesses to nation-wide manufacturers — ensuring policies and handbooks meet company needs, comply with state and federal law, and minimize exposure to litigation. We use our expertise to refine the issues, so that the finished product effectively communicates policy and law to all employees.