Click here for some sample policies regarding various aspects of employee relations.

Employers are free under federal law and most state laws to design their workplace policies and procedures the way they deem best for their situations. This section does not attempt to show how to write an entire personnel policy manual. It will explain some of the basic legal issues behind policies and why good written policies that are properly followed help employers win unemployment cases and other types of employment claims and lawsuits.

Basic Legal Issues

1. Policies are generally up to the employer to define and enforce. The employment at will doctrine in Texas and many other states gives employers the right to set policies and change them at will depending upon the needs of the business. The few exceptions are so well-established that most employers do not even consider them to be policy areas: pay (minimum wage and overtime restrictions); no illegally discriminatory hiring, personnel, or termination practices; safety (OSHA regulations); and so on.
2. Policies can be verbal or written or both, but ideally, all important policies should be in writing.
3. Employers can generally change policies at a moment's notice.
4. In Texas and in most other states, policies or policy handbooks are not regarded as binding employment contracts.

Practical Issues with Policies

1. Although employers have the right to change policies at will, it may not be advisable to do so without at least attempting to give advance notice. If a policy change alters an employee's work relationship so much and so adversely that a reasonable employee would quit under the circumstances, the employer could face a loss in an unemployment claim.
2. Employers should attempt to anticipate potential problems and think of alternatives when considering policy changes. Aside from unemployment claims, employers could also face a loss in employee morale and productivity with ill-advised or ill-timed policy changes.
3. Whatever the policies are, it is usually best to have them in writing and give copies to all employees. The best policies in the world will do no good at all if the employees are unaware of them. Employers sometimes lose unemployment claims if they are unable to show that the claimant had been informed of the policies he or she violated.
4. Above all, employers should try to follow their own policies, especially with respect to disciplinary matters. One of the easiest ways to lose an unemployment case is to have to admit that the disciplinary process that was announced in the policy was not followed in the claimant's case for some non-compelling reason. Remember, one thing that must be shown in every discharge case is how the claimant either knew or should have known he could lose his job for the reason given. If the policy talks about 2 verbal warnings, a written warning, a suspension, and then discharge, and the claimant is fired after only 2 verbal warnings, the employer will lose the case, unless it can somehow show a compelling reason for why the policy was ignored in the claimant's case.
5. Similarly, employers must be vigilant and careful to enforce the policies even-handedly and consistently. If the claimant was fired for an offense for which others were only warned, and there was no compelling reason for treating the claimant differently, the employer will lose the case. Even-handed enforcement of policies will also help employers fight off claims of discrimination and wrongful discharge.

Click here for some sample policies regarding various aspects of employee relations.

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© 2002
Employment Law Advisory Network, Inc.