Page 22 - BusinessWest September 2, 2024

“One of the reasons you have a handbook — not the principal reason, but one of the reasons
— is if there is some kind of litigation and some- one is challenging the reasons they are separated from employment,” he explained. “They might say they were fired because of their age, for example; the employer says, ‘no, you violated this policy.’ It’s helpful to have a policy in writing, so you can say, ‘this is the policy, and this is how you violated it.’
“If you have it in writing, that’s good. If you don’t have it in writing, that’s bad,” he went on. “And what’s worse is to have the wrong policy in place, something that’s old and outdated.”
But — and this is a big but — if an employer is going to put something in the handbook, then it must abide by it, or the company could open itself up to trouble, said Gannon, who has seen this happen on many occasions.
“The best advice I can give is to put it in writ- ing — and follow it,” he said, adding that this is one of the key reasons why training of managers is so important. With training, they’re better able to know the policies and abide by them.
Reall agreed. “There’s a lot of litigation where handbooks show up and are used against employ- ers,” she explained. “You don’t want to require your employees, in the context of your hand- book, to do X or Y without recognizing that the courts will recognize that and say, ‘reciprocity — you’re binding their hands here. What about you, employer? If you’re going to make these require- ments, then it’s up to you to uphold them.’”
For this issue and its focus on business man- agement, we take an in-depth look at handbooks and how to make sure they do what they are cre- ated to do.
The Write Stuff
“Telecommuting is not designed to be a replacement for appropriate childcare. Although an individual employee’s schedule may be modi- fied to accommodate occasional childcare needs, the focus of the arrangement must remain on job performance and meeting business demands. Pro- spective telecommuters are encouraged to discuss expectations of telecommuting with family mem- bers before entering a trial period as the employ- ee should not undertake to provide primary care for a young child during at-home working hours. If a young child will be home during the employee’s at-home working hours, some other individual should be present to provide primary care.”
That’s a passage from a handbook that Gan- non, who recommends handbooks for compa- nies with six or more employees, helped craft
“If you have it in writing, that’s good. If you don’t have it in writing, that’s bad. And what’s worse is to have the wrong policy in place, something that’s old and
handbook should cover, Gannon said, listing anti-harassment poli- cies, the state’s sick-time and fami- ly-leave laws, meal breaks, what he calls a ‘code of conduct’ outlining proper behavior, and a workplace- violence policy, preferably one stat- ing that the employer has zero tol- erance for such violence “because that’s a scary thing these days.”
Reall agreed, but noted, again, that companies, and especially smaller ones, should think at least twice about whether they need a
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JOHN GANNON
outdated.”
for a client. It’s an example of being both current — remote work, while not necessarily new, has certainly become much more prevalent since the pandemic — and thorough, leaving little ambiguity when it comes to the employers’ wishes, policies, and expectations.
Indeed, the section on telecommuting in this particular handbook covers everything from eligi- bility to equipment; from safety to time worked, specifically with regard to overtime and those not exempt from the requirements set in the Fair Labor Standards Act. “Hours worked over those scheduled require the advance approval of the telecommuter’s supervisor,” it reads. “Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the immediate termination of the telecommuting agreement and other disciplinary action.”
The rise of remote work and the many issues associated with it provides a reminder that hand- books need to be updated regularly, said Gannon, suggesting every two years. And if that yardstick is used, the updates should be relatively minor in nature. If they aren’t, well, the opposite is true.
“If I reviewed someone’s handbook in 2002 and they bring it to me in 2024, there may be
one or two new policies to add and a few things we need to tweak,” he said. “But it’s quick if you stay on top of it. I had someone who just sent
me their handbook, which hadn’t been looked at since 2017, which means it’s missing quite a few things and may have policies that don’t even apply anymore.”
He said there are many topics, as well as changes in the social and workplace landscape, that should be addressed in handbooks — every- thing from the Bay State’s Crown Act, which expands the definition of discrimination based on race to prohibit discrimination based on natu- ral and protective hairstyles, to social media and the need to use gender-neutral pronouns with all policies.
Overall, there are many topics an effective
handbook and, if they determine they do, what goes in it.
“I tend to see more problems created by hand- books with smaller companies than positive out- comes,” she told BusinessWest. “It’s a tool, but it’s a tool that, if you don’t use it right, can burn you.”
She added that many of these smaller compa- nies look for a template — a free handbook that shows up on Google — or copy another company’s handbook.
“Years ago, maybe not so much now, everyone used to steal MassMutual’s,” she recalled. “It was about 300 pages long and incredibly detailed;
it read like an insurance contract, and it was absolutely what you didn’t want if you had 25 employees.”
Bottom Line
What employers do want is something that suits their sector and their specific business, Reall went on, adding that, if a company if going to have a handbook, it should enlist the help of an expert. And that employer should make it clear that the handbook is just a guide and that the employer reserves the right, unilaterally, to change anything in the handbook at any time.
“It’s got to look like an employer document and not an agreement between the employer and the employee,” she went on, adding that a handbook can, indeed, be a valuable tool — but only if it’s done right.
“You need to make sure that whoever crafts
it knows what they’re doing. If you’re a small employer and you have no HR department, and you’re going to look at your handbook about once every 10 years, that’s very dangerous, and you would be best off not putting things in writing that will come back to haunt you.”
In short, when it comes to handbooks, employ- ers should remember that less can certainly be more. BW
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