Guarding the Books

For many workers, the employee handbook is part corporate Bible, part Bill of Rights. It spells out the do’s and don’ts of the workplace and details what rights and benefits employees enjoy.

A good handbook will, among other things, tell employees about safety rules, fringe benefits and what to do if your boss or a co-worker makes unwanted advances.

But for some workers, the employee handbook is their boss’ most closely guarded secret.

Some employers even keep their handbooks under lock and key, far away from the prying eyes of workers. Others just keep theirs short--like the owner of a Wisconsin shoe store whose employee handbook is scribbled in his own handwriting and takes up half of an 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper. Then, there is the Arizona local government that has a multivolume manual but doesn’t go out of its way to divulge the contents. Employees who want to read the document have to visit three locations on two separate floors.

If an employee handbook serves to explain workers’ rights and responsibilities, why keep it from them?

“Some companies are simply trying to hide the ball,” said Paula Brantner, senior staff attorney with the National Employment Lawyers Assn., or NELA. “Many employers don’t want their workers to know what their rights are because they’re scared that workers might use them.”

Lawyers for employers acknowledge that they encounter cases in which management has withheld handbooks from workers. Such managers, they say, mainly fear that the handbooks would be “Exhibit No. 1” in employee lawsuits against them.

But attorneys for workers and management agree that it is in everyone’s best interests to have precise workplace manuals that tell workers what is expected of them--and what would happen if they break the rules.

NELA, whose members represent workers in suits against employers, said personnel handbook horror stories go beyond mere withholding of the manual.

According to Brantner, here are some common problems workers encounter:

* Employees aren’t given handbooks yet are asked to sign a disclaimer saying they’ve received one.

* Non-compete, mandatory arbitration or other important changes affecting employee rights are added to the handbook, but workers aren’t notified.

* Employers require workers to go to their supervisors or the human resources department to obtain information (thereby alerting the company that employees might have grievances or concerns).

* Employees are fired for violating little-known, obscure handbook rules that are applied arbitrarily.

To be sure, a well-written employee handbook can actually be an employer’s best weapon to defend employee suits, said Jim Collison, president of Employers of America, a Mason City, Iowa, firm that provides management advice to corporations. Courts often side with employers that show that employees violated clear company rules, he said.

But too often, handbooks sound like the Ten Commandments, detailing what the rules are for workers without stating management responsibilities, Collison said. Judges are unwilling to enforce such rules when they are one-sided, Collison and others say.

Attorneys for managers say some handbooks contain far too many details--to the detriment of employers.

A Philadelphia attorney who represents management in employment disputes, Jonathan A. Segal, says he once reviewed a client’s handbook that spelled out the firm’s bridal shower policy, specifying what the employer would pay for if a female employee decided to get married. Another spelled out the procedures employees should follow if they get drunk at lunch. Segal had those “policies” stricken from the handbooks.

“They were just inviting lawsuits,” he said.

Segal and other employment lawyers say more employers will be forced to be more forthcoming with their handbooks--thanks to a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions last year. Ruling in two sexual harassment cases, the justices said employers are automatically liable for a supervisor’s unwanted advances--even if they know nothing about the wrongdoing.

But the court also ruled that companies can successfully defend themselves by proving that they have a strong policy against harassment and that they respond quickly to complaints. “To take advantage of that defense, companies must publish and disseminate those policies in handbooks or otherwise,” Segal said.

Still, Brantner said workers need to be vigilant.