Over the next several days, KMA will be running a series of blogs on various new state, federal, and local requirements that may affect you operations, HR compliance, and policies and procedures.
The NLRB issued employee handbook guidance in March on policies that it considers over-broad and those it finds acceptable that pertain to employee conduct, confidentiality, and employee contact with the media, use of logos, copyrights, and trademarks, and policies regarding taking photographs at work.
KMA’s Anita Krieg offers her insight on these changes:
- The NLRB has been very active in ruling on cases related to social media and employees rights to protected concerted activity under the National Labor Rights Act. As a result, a social media policy is recommended to be part of your employee handbook.
- Employee handbooks should generally include information on your general employment policies, wages and compensation, benefits, employee leaves, and standards of conduct and discipline. The process of putting the handbook together develops and clarifies these policies for your business.
- Handbooks are generally a great HR tool to have in your toolkit as they:
- provide communication and education to employees on your organization and how you operate
- set expectations and provide information on what you expect and what you offer employees
- provide good risk management for legal issues related to at-will employment, harassment, discrimination, and wages and hours.
Recommendation: Your employee handbook should be reviewed to address this NLRB policy guidance. If you don’t have a handbook or haven’t updated yours in a while, this a good time to do so.
Need further help or guidance?
KMA recommends reviewing this change with your financial and operational staff to determine how it will impact your organization over the short- and long term. KMA is here to help you understand the issue and how best to implement changes for your organization. Contact Anita at KMA for assistance.