SPOTLIGHT The Employee Handbook BUSINESS Time off for voting (a good idea) Military leave (a great idea and required by law) FMLA (unpaid family leave law, which may not apply to your smaller company) Maternity leave (No, your dog having puppies is not a quali- fying event.) ****I must admit that, prior to my experience dealing with em- ployment personnel issues such as bereavement leave, I mistak- enly believed that an employee’s grandmother could only die once! Who knew? of Employee Handbook 7. Confirmation and Receipt A form that confirms receipt of handbook Places burden of understanding and compliance on the employee Confirms general and some specific concepts of employment terms Signed and dated by employee and company-designated manager You should provide an overview and highlights of your com- pany’s handbook as part of your onboarding process for new employees and for all employees when you introduce such a document for the first time. If you find yourself onboarding employees oſten, consider video recording at least part of this process to save time. You probably won’t have time to review and explain every provision, so just do your best. At a minimum, explain employment at will and cover benefits, hours of work, pay and basic stuff that a new employee obviously needs to know. Aſter discussing essential employment terms and handbook provisions, have the employee sign the confirmation/acknowl- edgement and receipt form. Reinforce the employee’s responsi- bility to read the handbook and to pose any questions they may have to their immediate supervisor or human resources. Traps to Avoid When we think of the good, the bad and the ugly of employee handbooks, we need to look at both ends of the spectrum. First, consider how your handbook can be weaponized against your company. As mentioned earlier, far too oſten, the handbook unfortunately becomes a dust collector. Many take the time to compile policies, procedures and provi- 12 SAFE & VAULT TECHNOLOGY | November/December 2021 sions for all that good employment stuff but then are inconsistent in applying (or don’t enforce at all) some of those provisions. So, when things get ugly, your own handbook is used as a cudgel to beat you senseless in court or at a disputed unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation hearing. It might go something like: “So, El Jefe, will you please explain why your actual workplace practices are consistently at odds with and even violate your own company policies, as prescribed in your company’s employee handbook? Essentially, you are con- sistently inconsistent!” You could try saying they are just guidelines and each situa- tion is handled on a case-by-case basis, and management has the sole right to interpret provisions of the handbook. Oh, and don’t forget to bring your checkbook, and be prepared to suddenly discover that your insurance agent no longer speaks English. Conversely, without a handbook at all, how can you expect to have clarity about your company’s employment terms and policies? How will you explain “the rules of engagement” to new employees, not to mention ensure consistent application by you and/or your supervisors? And, lest we forget, you are still subject to applicable employment laws and regulations! Eating the Elephant One Bite at a Time Consider being somewhere between the two ends of the handbook spectrum. Start with a list or table that outlines your company’s employee benefits. This can be a summary snapshot trifold or other handout. Be sure to indicate that the provisions are subject to change at management’s sole discretion without notice. You can include a date issued and cross-reference to your employee handbook (if applicable) for more details. Next, begin constructing your handbook one section at a time. You certainly don’t need to have a 50- to 75-page handbook. Even if you build it one section at a time, you are probably better off not releasing it piecemeal. In other words, publish a reasonably complete handbook, even if it does not cover everything on the first pass. Reasonably complete means covering at least the most important provisions. Hint: Ask yourself what you would want/need to know if you were considering employment or had just accepted employment with the company. Don’t forget to cover the more important le- gal and regulatory provisions such as anti-discrimination and anti-harassment stuff. Again, you can find templates for these types of policies. Once you start developing a handbook, it’s hard to stop un- www.savta.org