If your employee handbook hasn't been updated in the past six months, it's out of date.
Because employment laws and your business are in a constant state of flux, it's critical to keep your personnel policies up-to-date.
Your employees must know the rules to follow the rules. Get the Do-It-Yourself Employee Manual.
Be sure your policies cover these important topics:
Social media
Determine whether social media is interfering with your business needs.
As the popularity of social networking continues to grow, employers should consider adopting policies that educate employees on your expectations and their legal obligations.
While social media provides companies with marketing, recruiting and other business opportunities, many employers also experience problems when employees go online. Problems range from decreased productivity and workplace distractions to disclosure of confidential information, invasion of privacy and harassment.
Employers can and should provide employees with guidelines on their use of social media. What those policies cover will differ from workplace to workplace, and may depend on whether the employer itself relies upon social media for business purposes. Social media is here to stay, so it seems prudent to adopt policies stating your expectations.
Especially for nonprofits
Consider adopting whistle-blower, conflict-of-interest and document-retention policies.
All employers benefit from policies that help employees adhere to ethical business practices and encourage them to report suspected ethical or legal misconduct.
In light of changes to the IRS Form 990, charities and other tax-exempt organizations may have further reason to adopt such practices. Form 990 surveys whether an organization has written policies addressing whistle-blowing, conflicts of interest and document retention and destruction.
If you don't have such policies, consider adopting them. If you do, make sure your written policies reflect the actual practices in your organization. Having all the required and recommended policies in place will minimize the risk of an audit or negative publicity for tax-exempt businesses.
To your people it's simply an employee manual, but it's also a powerful legal defense for you. Having clear policies in writing is one of the best ways to give yourself ammunition in case of a lawsuit. Better still, it helps prevent lawsuits in the first place. Order the Do-It-Yourself Employee Manual now.
FMLA and the military
Update the military sections of your FMLA policy.
Employers with 50 or more employees are subject to the FMLA. Among other things, the FMLA requires employers to have a written policy that details employees' rights under the law.
In 2009, several changes to the FMLA and its regulations required employers to significantly revamp their FMLA policies.
Just when we thought we had things all squared away, the Obama administration modified the law to expand military-leave benefits. Previously, military leave for a "qualifying exigency" was limited to members of the National Guard and Reserve. That right now extends to members of any branch of the armed forces.
Genetic information
Include genetic information on your list of protected classes.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) went into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. GINA prohibits discrimination based on employees' and applicants' genetic information, and that of their family members as well.
Genetic information includes the results of genetic tests, along with information about family medical histories.
As a result of this law, you should add genetic information to the list of protected characteristics in your nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policies.
Prevention, not problem solving
In addition to staying current with new legal developments, it is a good idea to review current policies with an eye toward lessons learned from prior employment issues.
Policies that are incomplete or ambiguous open the door to workplace disagreements, HR headaches and employment-related lawsuits. Thoroughly reviewing your employee handbook is a great way to ensure those problems don't affect you.
It seems like an employee is stoned, but can you force a drug test? How can you prevent employee use of company property? What if you suspect—or know—employees are watching porn at work?
When you run a business, troublesome questions like these come up often. You may feel unsure about how to act, and you surely face big legal risks depending on the action you take—even if you take none at all.
But now there's the Do-It-Yourself Employee Manual. It includes a guidebook plus a CD to help you easily create your manual for far less than hiring an attorney to help you. Your new manual will cover: - At-will employment and your right to terminate an employee with or without cause—if you follow these exact steps
Employee classification—full-time, part-time, exempt, nonexempt—so you can prevent wage-and-hour lawsuits and calculate benefits- Plain-English compensation policies, including overtime, vacations, sick pay, severance and leaves of absence.
There's no need to wonder, worry and wait for a lawsuit to hit. The sooner you take the simple steps to create your manual, the sooner you'll sleep better at night. Order the Do-It-Yourself Employee Manual today.
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