Page 21 - BusinessWest September 2, 2024

The Book on Handbooks
They Need to Be Current, and Employers Need to Abide by Them
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
“Less is more.”
Those three words comprise one of the many forms of
advice that Elaine Reall has for business owners and manag- ers when it comes to what’s written in employee handbooks.
She says it should apply to most all content, but especially refer- ences to laws and regulations regarding the workplace, including the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act.
“Employers go on, page after page, explaining a very intricate stat- ute,” said Reall, chief legal officer for the Springfield-based Royal Law Firm. “They don’t need to do that; they need to say, ‘you’re eligible under Massachusetts law for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, and here’s the hyperlink to the government’s site, which will take you through the entire process.’”
“A lot of employers don’t realize that the first or second document that a plaintiff’s attorney in the employment area looks for is the guidebook, handbook, or what- ever is being put out there by the employer.”
ELAINE REALL
Reall has lots of other advice on handbooks, regarding everything from how they should be updated regularly — especially when there are important changes in laws or seismic shifts in the workplace — to how managers shouldn’t borrow a template off the internet, to ... well, whether a small business even needs a handbook.
Indeed, she noted, handbooks are increasingly being viewed as contracts.
“A lot of employers don’t realize that the first or second document that a plaintiff’s attorney in the employment area looks for is the guide- book, handbook, or whatever is being put out there by the employer,” she said. “And they’re looking to see if there are implied contractual commitments that they can use, because Massachusetts does recog- nize that you can create an implied contract not just with the whole handbook, but with portions of the handbook.”
For this reason, if a business is going to have a handbook, and if it is going to have content on certain subjects, its managers need to be sure they get it right, she said.
John Gannon, an employment-law specialist and partner at Spring- field-based Skoler Abbott, agreed. He noted that handbook policies come in two categories — those for which employers are legally obli- gated to have a policy, such as the Bay State’s earned sick time law, and those that are recommended.
“You don’t have to have them, but you should have them,” he said, adding that policies in this category include everything from remote work (more on that later) to dress codes.
Overall, a handbook should help get everyone on the same page — figuratively, but also literally — and also protect the employer, said Gan- non, adding that handbooks are not contracts, but they are, or should be, written in such a way to help protect the employer if there are com- plaints or legal actions taken by employees.
We’ve Got Business Lending
Power.
Commercial Lenders VP Darlene Mark & SVP Rob Chateauneuf, with Commercial Loan Officer Catherine Rioux.
Projects We’ve Recently Financed
Commercial Real Estate
$5,600,000
Real Estate Purchase Agawam, MA
Commercial Construction
$400,000
Land Purchase & Development Somers, CT
Commercial Real Estate
$3,746,000
Property Management Springfield & Holyoke, MA
Commercial Term Loan
$76,500
Landscaping Equipment East Longmeadow, MA
Contact our Commercial Lending Team
413-267-1254 or [email protected]
www.monsonsavings.bank MEMBER FDIC I MEMBER DIF
BusinessWest << BUSINESS MANAGEMENT >> SEPTEMBER 2, 2024 21