Policy Manuals
jimmyperez07
15 Posts
Am I able to give Employees a copy of our Policy Manual/ Employee Handbook on a CD-R/ Compact Disc or does it have to be print? When I issue the Handbook, they sign a form stating they have received it.
-Jimmy Perez
Comments
Iris is right that there is no law mandating that employers have a handbook. But, if you do, you should have all of your employees sign an acknowledgement that they have received and read the handbook. This is really important. You have to make sure that all your employees have access toa computer, and if you revise the handbook, you hae to tell them that and have them sign another acknolwdgment. And always have at-will disclaimers throughout the handbook.
But, another consideration is if you have a mandatory arbitration policy in the handbook. First, it should be separate from the handbook. But second, some courts have held notifying employees of a mandatory arbitration policy through e-mail or the Internet is inadequate to communicate the terms of the agreement and have held the agreement unenforceable.
Hope this helps!
Actually, you don't have to legally have the employees sign an acknowledgement that they received a copy. No law is being broken if they do not.
I'm not saying that is a good idea. For one thing, if your employee has signed that they have received a copy it will go a long way in your defense for unemployment or other potential lawsuits. But it is not a legal requirement.
We have each employee sign an acknowledgement upon hire. I've also added in this acknowledgement that the employee understands that the company will notify him/her when there are any updates or changes to a policy. By signing the initial acknowledgement, he/she agrees that he/she is responsible at the time of the update or change to review the information the new or revised poilcy contains.
We also make sure to give a copy of the acknowledgement when they sign it.
I agree there's no law, however you need proof that the the policy manual was given/is available and that the employees acknowledges it's his/her responsiblity to read and abide by the company policies.
The receipt is a tool for the Company to bolster claims that an employee knew about a Company policy and it turns out to be very important in almost any kind of hearing or legal action.
If your company has an intranet and everyone has regular access to it, they can sign a receipt saying they've been instructed in how to access it on top of the other things a receipt should have.
If you want to make digital media an option, you can have the receipt say that they have received a CD with the handbook on it and the employee certifies that they have the ability to access a file of that type and read it, on top of the other stuff. It probably would be a good idea to make the digital media thing optional unless the employee can (and is permitted) to look at those materials at work. What will you do if someone is upset with their supervisor and spends 3 hours studying the employee manual on the clock at their desk? Tell them they can't read the hand book that they can only access at work? A lot depends on how conservative your company is. The more conservative you are, the better it is to put a printed manual in each person's hand.