Employee Handbook

Summary

This template is an employee handbook. It covers key topics including, among others, employment-at-will, equal employment opportunity, complaint policies, pay and benefits, work hours, attendance, leave, standards of conduct, career development, safety and health, company property (including electronic information), and employee handbook acknowledgements. This template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and alternate and optional clauses. This employee handbook does not address all potential state law distinctions. For issues governed by state law, see the Jurisdictional Considerations / State Charts and Surveys practice note page. For state law employment policies and checklists, see Employment Policies State Expert Forms and Checklists Chart. For an employee handbook supplement for New York employers containing customized workplace policies based on New York state and local laws, see Employee Handbook Supplement (NY). For a similar employee handbook supplement for California employers, see Employee Handbook Supplement (CA). For more information on drafting and revising employee handbooks see Employee Handbooks: Drafting and Revising Tips and Labor and Employment Law § 258.07. There are several employment policies that we have not included in this sample employee handbook because they are either optional or alternate policies to policies in the sample employee handbook. These policies include Probationary Period Policy, Vacation Policy, Personal Days Policy, Personal Leave of Absence Policy, Sick Leave Policy, Progressive Discipline Policy, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy, Employee Discount, Referral Bonus, and EAP Benefit Policies, Referral Bonus Policy, Discount Program Policy, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Policy, Educational Assistance Program Policy, Resignation Notice Policy, Pay and Benefits upon Separation Policy, Exit Interviews and Return of Company Property Policy, Job Reference Policy, and Re-employment Policy. See also Employee Handbook Policies Checklist. It includes a checklist of policies to include in an employee handbook and denotes policies deemed essential for inclusion in employee handbooks. We also separately offer individual policy acknowledgment templates including Harassment and EEO Policy Acknowledgment, Probationary Period Acknowledgment, Communications Systems, E-mail, Networks, and Internet Policy Acknowledgment, Computers, Mobile Phones, and Other Electronic Devices Policy Acknowledgment, Social Media Policy Acknowledgment, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy Acknowledgment. [>] Video: For a three-minute video on how to use Practical Guidance to revise and draft employee handbooks, see Drafting and Revising Employee Handbooks on Practical Guidance L&E. For a transcript of the training video, see Employee Handbook Drafting and Revising on Practical Guidance Labor & Employment: How-to Video. For a full listing of key content covering recruiting, screening, testing, hiring, and onboarding, see Screening and Hiring Resource Kit. For a full listing of key content covering employee handbook considerations, see Employee Handbook Resource Kit.