Along with pumpkins, costumes, and a chill in the air, the autumn season means it’s time to think about updating those handbooks and personnel policies! 2024 brought many new laws that warrant handbook updates, particularly in typically employment legislation-heavy states like California.

While a detailed review and update to handbooks should be done annually, it is especially important to focus on updates in the law as to the following categories:

• Leaves of absence
• Paid time off
• Protected employment categories
• Wage and hour
• Benefits
• Workplace Accommodations

We note in particular that there are a number of state laws requiring written acknowledgement of certain policies by employees (for example, harassment complaint and investigation procedures). When reviewing a handbook, it is therefore important to ensure that the document includes such legally required notices where applicable.

Beyond a purely legal review, this also is a good time to make sure the company’s handbook accurately reflects the company’s practices. While practices change over time, written policies don’t always keep up with those changes. In reviewing policies, a company should ask itself: is this really how we do things currently, or is this policy dated? Does this policy reflect the current day-to-day reality of the workplace? Reviewing the handbook with an eye towards practical application in addition to baseline legal requirements is essential to maintaining an up-to-date document that reflects the company’s operations. 

Distributing the updated handbook or policies to employees and ensuring they have the opportunity to review (and ideally attest to having done so) is the final and important step in this process. Employees should be informed of handbook updates and should always have access to the most current handbook or policies.