Common Employee Handbook Mistakes

When’s the last time you reviewed your employee handbook? Your handbook helps employees understand your policies, communicates expectations and sets standards. But if you make employee handbook mistakes, you could face legal ramifications.

Handbooks are key pieces of evidence in many employment lawsuits — for both sides. It could serve to protect your organization or support the employee who is suing. As a result, it is critical to keep your handbook thorough, up to date, compliant and available to all employees. Let’s examine some of the common employee handbook mistake employers make:

Changing Laws and Requirements

Laws change all the time. Your handbook must stay up to date with federal and state laws. When changes are necessary, provide timely updates for your employees. If the legal change is significant, consider having employees resign a document acknowledging they are aware of the update. One final tip — it can be a good idea to have a disclaimer in your employee handbook that it may change at any time.

Employee Rights

Many handbooks make the mistake of outlining employer rights, while glossing over the rights of employees. Employers may be concerned that highlighting these rights will encourage more lawsuits. But the reality is — leaving these rights out puts you at much more legal risk than including them.

Employment Relationship

One employee handbook mistake that is easy to avoid is the lack of clarity around the employment relationship. Be explicit about the at-will employment relationship. The employer (and the employee) has the right to terminate employment at any time — with or without cause

Second, be sure that other policies in the handbook don’t undertime at-will employment. Examples could include probationary periods and progressive discipline periods. Keep an eye out for any language that can sound like employment is guaranteed for the duration of any “period”.

Exempt or Non-exempt Classification

Wage, hour and overtime complaints are always on the list of most common legal actions taken by employees. So, be sure your handbook is clear. Classify all employees properly with distinct definitions of exempt and non-exempt.  Then, make sure your overtime policies comply with federal and state laws.

Example: Even if you have a policy stating that overtime requires approval — you can’t refuse to pay unapproved overtime. The law requires you to pay it. However, you can discipline employees for violating the policy.

Computer Usage

Electronic device policies are another common employee handbook mistake. Your handbook should account for all your electronic assets — computers, emails and all data. It should also be stated that nothing on a company-owned computer is private. Finally make clear policies for all electronic company devices such as tablets or smartphones.

Don’t Just Write It, Do it!

What is in your employee handbook is only half the battle. It is critical that your company always follow through with the policies in your new, comprehensive and compliant handbook. This provides the final layer of defense when your policies come under scrutiny.

Hopefully, this post has helped you understand a few of the common employee handbook mistakes. But remember, since these documents are so important, consider having legal counsel review yours periodically to ensure you avoid legal concerns.

Have any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out.