Does the law require me to have an employee handbook? No, but advisors to employers of all types are nearly universally in agreement about the value to an employer of an employee handbook.
Why do I Need an employee handbook? An employee handbook can be an effective tool for an agricultural employer to manage a workforce and avoid unnecessary litigation.
First, an effective handbook can articulate to your employees a compliant policy to prevent and deal with workplace harassment and discrimination, including the name and title of the responsible company official to whom an employee may report an incident of harassment or discrimination.
Second, a handbook gives you the opportunity to articulate to your employees what your policies and procedures will be when they are at work and performing work for you. It should cover a wide variety of expectations and norms for your workplace, including expected dress, behavior and comportment, your expectations that employees will follow directions and support the company’s business goals. In short, an employee handbook that you develop with professional assistance, promulgate to your employees and train them on its contents can help you establish the “rules of the road” for your workplace.
Third, an employee handbook can help you establish a legitimate predicate for necessary disciplinary action, and in combination with documentation of employee performance and employer guidance and discipline, help you defend yourself against allegations of discrimination if you have to discipline or terminate an employee. While California is and remains an “employment-at-will” state (that is, you can terminate an employment relationship at any time and for any reason, or for no reason at all) California law also includes a long list of protected classifications of people, like race, religion, national origin and so forth. If you can’t demonstrate that you disciplined or terminated an employee for violating your rules or policies (rather than for a discriminatory reason, which is claimed almost routinely in California) you can find yourself facing expensive litigation and an even more expensive settlement. An employee handbook, along with documented non-discriminatory discipline, can help you demonstrate that you disciplined or terminate an employee for failing to follow your legitimate and reasonable workplace rules and that you did not engage is discrimination.
How can FELS help me get a handbook? FELS offers customers two types of handbooks:
Standard Form Employee Handbook: The Standard Form Handbook is a minimally customizable product designed to cover basic handbook policies that California employers will need, covering situations like harassment and discrimination, family and medical leave, and basic workplace rules and similar matters. FELS generates your draft handbook for your review after incorporating information from your Standard Form Handbook Order Form (like the name of your company and the identify of the person who can handle allegations of harassment and discrimination, for example). The Standard Form Handbook will generally be fewer than fifteen pages in length. It is generally suitable for seasonal employers or employers with small workforces. Standard Form Handbook with customer customization starts at $250; further customization costs $80 per paragraph required to be moved or reformatted. You can find more information about the Standard Form Handbook at the FELS Store.
Custom Employee Handbook: FELS can use its expertise to help you craft an employer handbook tailored for your needs. For example, do you require candidates for employment to present a photograph to verify their identity or even to create worksite access badges? Do you require employees who have access proprietary information or handle large sums of money to be bonded? Do you issue communications devices to your employees or are they required to use personal devices? We have custom handbook policies to cover all those contingencies and more.
FELS generates your Custom Employee Handbook when you have completed FELS’ Custom Employee Handbook questionnaire. The questionnaire is about ten pages in length and gathers important information about your company like the company name, how many employees you have, to whom employees can report instances of harassment or discrimination, in what counties do you operate, who is responsible for maintenance and implementation of your Injury and Illness Prevention Program, and more. FELS will generate a draft for your review, and customers often have many question, suggestions and concerns. We sometimes craft custom policies for customers. All policies are reviewed by legal counsel for adequacy and compliance with California and federal law. Re-typing and formatting our existing, legal-counsel vetted policies will result in additional fees, and FELS will charge a standard fee of $175/hour for work compiling a Custom Handbook.
For more information about a Custom Employee Handbook, please call our offices at 800-753-9073 or email us at info@fels.net.
