Although employee handbooks are not a legal requirement, they are a useful tool for employers to communicate policies, procedures, and expectations to new and existing employees. For multistate and international employers, creating a universal employee handbook can be very challenging due to the need to comply with all the local, state, federal, and international laws applicable to the jurisdictions in which the employer operates. As companies continue to expand and embrace remote work, the differences in the applicable laws become even more apparent, especially as state laws in many areas are quickly evolving.
As a result, employers may need to take a different approach to their employee handbooks. For instance, employers may want to tailor their handbooks according to industry, the number of employees, union or nonunion status, and whether they work in the public, private, or government contractor sector. Likewise, employers may wish to tailor their employee handbooks to the jurisdictions in which their employees or offices are physically located, where remote workers are located, or where employees work while on assignment.
Although some multistate or national employers use employee handbooks that focus on federal law, these employers must keep in mind that local and state laws often directly affect or modify federal law provisions. As a result, a one-size-fits-all approach to employee handbooks is impossible. Instead, employers must tailor their handbooks to comply with the laws of the jurisdictions in which their employees work.
One way to accomplish this may be to provide a generic handbook that addresses federal laws with interchangeable state-specific inserts. This approach alleviates the need to revise the basic generic handbook constantly. Another option is for companies to develop state-specific handbooks for each state in which they operate.
International employers also should refrain from using a U.S. handbook for their employees based in overseas offices. Jurisdictions outside the U.S. have laws that differ widely, just like they do in different states. In this situation, employers could use a very neutral generic handbook that does not reference specific laws but only refers to general codes of conduct and company-wide procedures. Instead, the handbooks could contain country-specific enclosures as needed.
When drafting international employee handbooks, global employers also must consider other factors unique to other countries. These considerations include cultural norms, language barriers, local laws and customs, labor laws and regulations, and more. Awareness of these and other relevant factors can go a long way toward uniting the various branches of a global company.
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