Your employee handbook is an important facet of your business operations. After all, it explains your policies and procedures, as well as provides information about your benefits plans. But it’s not just some run-of-the-mill collection of policies. Properly assembled and worded, your handbook can be a key defense against employee lawsuits. But make a mistake, even a well-intentioned one, and the people eagerly wielding it will be your disgruntled employees (past and present) and their lawyers.
Order this in-depth 90-minute audio conference recording, detailing must-have wording as well as off-limits language that should never make it into your handbook. We’ll outline the tips you need to ensure that your handbook is legally compliant, while at the same time explaining how to prevent it from becoming a binding contract you didn’t intend to make.
Our expert – an experienced employment law attorney – will cover:
- What to include and what to avoid when drafting a handbook from scratch
- How to avoid handbook language that undermines the at-will employment relationship
- The optimal times to update your policies and procedures
- How to avoid inadvertently creating a binding contract with employees
- The components that make up a legally sound handbook
- How and when to communicate policy changes to your workforce, and why it’s crucial to get signed acknowledgements back for key changes
- Examples of illegal handbook policies
- Problems you may face when drafting and enforcing your policies – and how to avoid them
This audio conference was recorded on Wednesday, September 3, 2008
About Your Speaker:
Kristine Kwong, Esq., is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP. She is an experienced labor and employment law attorney who represents both private and public sector employers in federal and state courts throughout California in counseling and litigation. Kwong advises and counsels clients on a wide range of business and employment issues, including wage and hour matters, noncompete and restrictive covenant agreements, executive compensation packages, the full range of disciplinary matters, discrimination, harassment, and leaves of absences. As part of her practice, she also drafts and updates handbooks, policy manuals, codes of conduct, and severance packages for her clients.
A prolific and sought-after trainer, Kwong regularly produces and presents training programs for employers throughout the state of California on current issues of employment law, particularly in the area of government-mandated programs such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, the California Family Rights Act, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Pregnancy Disability Leave Law, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. For three consecutive years, Kwong was named a Southern California Super Lawyer “Rising Star” by Los Angeles Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine.
Approved for Recertification Credit
This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI home page at www.hrci.org.
