{"id":785,"date":"2014-11-21T11:10:45","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T16:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=785"},"modified":"2021-10-20T14:08:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T18:08:57","slug":"have-you-read-your-employee-handbook-lately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/?p=785","title":{"rendered":"Have You Read Your Employee Handbook Lately?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_143828725\"Most companies with more than a few employees have an employee handbook, which, in an ideal world, provides a positive representation of the business and its culture and clearly spells out the company\u2019s policies and procedures on all major issues impacting the employer-employee relationship, from salary and benefits to drug and alcohol abuse and workplace harassment.\u00a0 All too often, however, even a well-written, customized employee handbook is relegated to a drawer in the filing cabinet (or the electronic filing equivalent) and forgotten about\u2026until an incident occurs that prompts the CEO or head of Human Resources to scramble for the phone to call the company\u2019s employment lawyer.<\/p>\n

Those calls often begin, \u201cWe\u2019re having a problem with Employee X.\u00a0 Are there any legal issues we need to consider before terminating Mr. (or Ms.) X?\u201d The short answer to that question is always, \u201cYes.\u201d Even in an \u201cAt Will\u201d employment state, like Pennsylvania, where the general rule is that an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason or no reason, there are<\/em> legal issues you need to consider before terminating an employee.<\/p>\n

While some of those legal issues are the product of state and federal laws and regulations (e.g., federal laws preventing employment discrimination based on a variety of factors, including race, religion, sex, age and disability), other issues arise directly from the employee handbook.\u00a0 Does the employee handbook create an employment contract and give the employee the right to continued employment if he follows the company\u2019s policies and procedures? Does the handbook set forth a rigid progressive discipline policy that obligates the employer to adhere to each step before proceeding to termination?\u00a0 And even if the handbook does not contain an obstacle to termination, does it create certain unwelcome post-termination financial obligations for the employer (such as compensating the employee for accrued but unused vacation time or sick days)?<\/p>\n

An employee handbook is intended to improve the operations and efficiency of an organization by setting clear expectations for the employees and by providing valuable legal protection for the employer.\u00a0 An out-of-date handbook that has not been updated to reflect changes within the company (e.g., a new organization chart or drug and alcohol policy) or changes to federal or state regulations (e.g., an employer\u2019s obligations under the Affordable Care Act) can create a myriad of unexpected and unpleasant consequences for an employer.<\/p>\n

The time to \u201cdust off\u201d your company\u2019s employee handbook and give it a thorough review is before an employee-related crisis arises.\u00a0 As your personal health can benefit from an annual physical, the health of your business can benefit from a periodic check-up of your employee handbook.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most companies with more than a few employees have an employee handbook, which, in an ideal world, provides a positive representation of the business and its culture and clearly spells out the company\u2019s policies and procedures on all major issues … →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,56],"tags":[113,114],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employer-news","category-general-news-updates","tag-employee-handbook","tag-employment-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10012,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions\/10012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive-lynchlaw.pfgsandbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}