Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
business builder human resources
Who reads employee handbooks? A) No one. B) Human resource directors. C) Disgruntled employees looking for ammunition for a lawsuit. D) Good employees looking for clarification of rights or benefits.
Unfortunately, on any given day, any one of these might be true. The answer should be you, your managers and your employees.
Recall when you were last an employee. You received an employee handbook and were told to read, sign and keep it. If you are like 90 percent of employees and managers, you signed and filed it in a drawer, never to reference it again. We find that employee handbooks are often perceived as an employer nemesis, something that an attorney told them they had to have. This is no surprise, since most employers unknowingly risk exposure by adopting policies they don’t follow.
What employers need to know is this: properly used, the handbook can be an asset and not a liability. It is always in an employer’s best interest for its employees to understand their rights, responsibilities and benefits both under the law and as it relates to their own job performance.
So, legal jargon aside, are you using your protection properly? Ask yourself the following questions:
• Do you have a handbook?
• Is the handbook reader-friendly?
• Does the handbook relay your expectations to your employees, as well as the benefits of working for you?
If you answered “yes,” you’ve already given your new employee a positive business message.
If you have a handbook, review the contents (or better yet, have an attorney do it for you). Ask yourself, does your handbook include the following?
• A statement of purpose explaining why you have a handbook.
• Your expectations of the employee, for example, reliability, attendance and hours.
• Your employee benefits. Give thought to what benefits employees really need. For example, with the aging population, some of your employees may be more concerned with taking care of parents or grandparents than with taking care of young children, so multi-generational day care, flex schedules, part-time employment and leave policies are increasingly important to cover.
• Legal rights and responsibilities of both the employer and employee.
• Appropriate language that your employee will understand. If you have non-English speaking employees, try to make the handbook available in any applicable language.
• Appropriate disclaimers — for example, that the company workforce is at-will and may be dismissed at any time, or that attendance is an essential job function, and that discipline will occur for absence, “unless that leave is protected leave or time off protected by state or federal law.”
• Acknowledgement that the employee received and understood the handbook.
Don’t contradict
If your handbook contains all of these things, then you are on the right track. Now keep going. Avoid the following:
• Contradictory policies: For example, you tell employees you understand the need for balance between work and home. However, you protest when employees take too much time off, claiming violations of the attendance policy.
• “Stepped” grievance procedures. These policies can create binding employment contracts, and are often the subject of litigation if you do not follow the “mandatory” steps.
• Egregious language, such as “if the employee has a certain number of absences, the employee will be fired.” Such a policy could easily violate any number of mandatory leave laws.
Now, take the final step and truly protect your company. Ask the hard questions.
Do you and your managers know and follow the guidelines set forth in the handbook? Remember, good intentions are not enough. When you leave your protection in a drawer, it cannot limit exposure to litigation or employee discontent. Bottom line: It is not enough to simply adopt policies and procedures.
Adopting policies, but not following or applying them consistently, will backfire and put you on the fast track to the courthouse. In my experience, the employers who get sued and end up in expensive litigation are the same employers whose employees or managers do not know what their rights and responsibilities are.
Have you taken the time to explain the handbook and its contents to your employees? I have been amazed by the positive response from employees when an employer has hired me to conduct training, not only on sexual harassment or discrimination, but also to explain other important policies in the handbook and answer the employee’s questions. Employees who know and understand your policies and their legal rights are more likely to be satisfied that you are treating them fairly (assuming of course that you are and wish to do so).
You do not want to be involved in, much less lose an employment case. Even if you get your case dismissed on summary judgment (that is, before trial), that lawsuit could still cost you well over $75,000 (you don’t want to know how much a trial would cost). In contrast, preparing an airtight employee handbook — and providing employee training so your employees and managers understand it — might cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
The cost of a handbook review and training greatly outweighs the cost of litigation. Remember, the laws protect both parties — don’t be afraid! Focus your efforts on building revenue through happy employees rather than squandering time and money testifying in a courtroom.
[contact] Teresa Thompson is a labor and employment attorney with the Minneapolis law firm of Parsinen Kaplan Rosberg & Gotlieb: 612.342.0338; tt*******@****aw.com; www.parlaw.com
