damnedif

I’ve blogged before about the need for drafting and updating your employee handbook: https://damnedif.com/category/personnel-policy-fun/

I know, handbooks are boring. But you know who they are not boring too? That plaintiff’s lawyer who wants to take your company for a million dollars. She’ll do her job and read every word of your employee handbook that you haven’t bothered to read in, what, three years? She’ll find every ambiguity, every outdated policy, every discrepancy with how you do things. And she’ll smack you in the mouth with all of them at deposition or trial.

Here are just some of the ways that you can screw yourself with your employee manual.

1. You have policies that you don’t follow.

Every employer has policies and provisions in the manual that they do not really follow. They are outdated, irrelevant or ignored. Get rid of them. They serve no purpose other than showing how you don’t follow your own manual, which can be used in a variety of ways to make you look bad in litigation.

2. You have no or an outdated sexual harassment policy.

Massachusetts is serious about sexual harassment, as it should be. Employers with six or more employees by law must have a sexual harassment policy. You also must provide the policy to new employees, and to all employees yearly. Our diligent plaintiff’s attorney will certainly use it against you if you don’t do these things. They may also use it against you if do not train employees – at least your supervisors (which is recommended, but not required, by Massachusetts law). Your company is automatically liable if a supervisor commits sexual harassment of a subordinate. Training takes about an hour, so just get it done.

3. You don’t include disclaimers and at-will language.

All the lawyer speak in modern employee manuals are nauseating, but strictly necessary.  Why?  Because the Massachusetts courts have told us so.  If you fail to put them in there, you may have bound yourself to a contract whereby you have all the obligations of performance. If you fire an employee or take other action, you may have breached the “contract.” This would be like winning the Darwin Awards, employer version.

4. You don’t have a comprehensive leave policy.

There are many types of leave required by federal and state law. You can’t simply stick your head in the sand and give people time off whenever they need it. No good deed goes unpunished. If you give one person leave and not another, you may just have committed discrimination. Unless you are okay with a “come in when you feel like it” policy, you need to address vacation time, military leave, jury duty leave, sick leave, family and medical leave, small necessities leave, maternity leave, domestic violence leave, voting leave, etc.

5. You restrict NLRA rights.

Even non-union employers now have to worry about the National Labor Relations Act, which historically was thought to apply only to union employees. Employees have rights to engage in “concerted” activities regarding the terms and conditions of employment. Your policies regarding standards of conduct, social media, distribution of materials in the workplace, confidentiality, etc. could inadvertently run afoul of the statutes and land you in hot water.

5. You have an overly detailed and rigid progressive discipline policy.

This is a rare occasion where non-specific may be better. If you are too rigid, you may create a presumption that employees cannot be fired unless you progress through the stages of discipline. Moreover, if you do not follow your explicit policy to the letter in every occasion, you will open yourself up to claims that you treated employees differently on the basis of gender, race, religion or other protected class. This is not just theoretical. It was a costly lesson for an employer in a recent Massachusetts case.

7. You have wage and hour policies that violate the law on their face.

If you are going to have wage and hour policies in your handbook, including overtime, comp time, and break polices, make extra sure that they are accurate and up to date. Wage and hour law is very detailed and frequently changes. I often see employers unwittingly put their illegal policies in writing, which will make our hypothetical plaintiff’s lawyer very, very happy.

8. You inadvertently run afoul of the federal ERISA law.

If you are not careful about how you describe your employee benefits, you could trigger compliance with strict obligations under federal law. Don’t do that.

In summary, dust off your employee handbook in your bottom draw and have your employment lawyer review and update it. Out of sight may be out of mind, but that won’t keep you out of court.

By Adam P. Whitney, Esq.

617-338-7000