Session #810: A Practical Look at Updating Your Handbook: Change with the Laws
In the litigious environment of HR, creating and/or updating your organization’s employee handbook may be a daunting task, but it is a task that must be completed. With often-significant changes in the law, driven by agencies such as the EEOC, DOL and NLRB, revising your handbook needs to be a high priority. Employee handbooks provide an effective and often necessary way to communicate your organization’s policies, standards of conduct and values to employees. However, a poorly drafted handbook may create serious problems, such as the risk of liability or openings for union organizing. This workshop will cover:
- The common mistakes made in drafting policies and the important strategies to eliminate those errors.
- Updates in the law and their impact on certain policies, including wage and hour, electronic communications, equal employment opportunity, union avoidance, etc.
- Best practices and common traps in drafting employee handbooks.
- The not legally required but necessary policies as well as the potentially varying policies, depending on the location(s) of your organization’s operations.
Michael S. Cohen, J.D.
Michael S. Cohen is a partner in Duane Morris’ Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group. Michael concentrates his practice in the areas of employment law training and counseling. He has trained and counseled employers throughout the country on subjects including harassment prevention; diversity, equity and inclusion; combatting implicit bias; performance management; discipline and discharge; hiring and recruiting practices; performance evaluations; FMLA, ADA and FLSA compliance; leave of absence policies; LGBTQ+ issues in the workplace; substance abuse testing; workplace violence; records retention; conducting background checks; and more. Michael also has conducted investigations into claims of harassment and discrimination and has drafted employee handbooks, employment agreements, non-compete agreements and post-termination agreements. Michael regularly conducts in excess of 200 trainings each year. He has represented clients throughout the country in EEO and other administrative proceedings.
Michael has been cited as a national authority on employment issues by The New York Times, The Associated Press, USA Today, MSNBC.com, HR Magazine, SHRM On-Line, Employment Law 360, Inside Counsel Magazine, as well as many other publications. Michael serves as an Advisory Board Member of GenHERation and as a Board Member of Serve, Inc. Michael is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
