Policies / Handbooks

EEOC issues new guidance on religious garb and grooming

04/08/2014

In an attempt to clarify employers’ rights and responsibilities under Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination, the EEOC has issued a new guidance document regarding religious clothing and grooming in the workplace.

Track worker receipt of electronic handbook

04/03/2014

Want an easy way to show that an employee acknowledged receiving a copy of your arbitration agreement? Include it in the employee handbook. Then have IT track when employees received it.

Never hesitate to make legit rule changes

03/17/2014

Have you found that some of your disciplinary rules are too lenient? Don’t hold back on stiffening your rules just because you fear the first employees subject to harsher penalties might sue you.

Handbook is key to misconduct discharge

03/17/2014

How your handbook reads is critical when you want to contest unemployment benefits for a former employee who was terminated for misconduct. Document that the employee received the handbook. Track any warnings that led up to the firing.

Do we have to tolerate ‘Duck Dynasty religion’ hat?

03/14/2014

Q. We let a female cashier at our restaurant wear a religious head covering, despite our policy against hats. Now, a male employee has started wearing a camouflage cap, claiming his religious idol is Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.” He says his “religion” is sincere. Can we tell him to remove the cap?

Electronic signatures: What HR professionals need to know

03/13/2014

For centuries, a signature at the bottom of a piece of paper has meant someone agrees with what the document says. But now many of our documents are made of electrons instead of wood pulp.
Can keystrokes carry the same legal weight as strokes of the pen?

Rules of engagement: Fraternization policies

03/03/2014

Nearly one-fifth of married employees met their mates at work—so it’s a good bet that plenty of your organization’s workers are dating, flirting or at least friending each other on Facebook. Accept that, and then create a fraternization policy that lets employees know exactly what relationships are and are not acceptable. A good policy has four sections:

Make sure handbook includes rules on off-the-clock work, missed break time

02/26/2014

With strong policies, employees (and their lawyers) will find it much harder to mount class-action wage-and-hour lawsuits. That’s because employees have to show that a common policy or practice was responsible for wage-and-hour violations.

Noncompete agreements for new and existing employees

02/19/2014

Q. We recently merged with a smaller company, taking on several new sales people. Most of our existing sales staff are long-time, loyal employees, so we haven’t previously used noncompete agreements. However, we’re now reconsidering this. Can we require all of our sales staff to sign noncompetes?

How to handle confidential information when onboarding new hires