Employ­ee hand­books often get over­looked, but they play a cru­cial role in shap­ing work­place poli­cies and pro­tect­ing both employ­ers and employ­ees. A well-draft­ed hand­book sets expec­ta­tions, out­lines rights and respon­si­bil­i­ties, and can even serve as evi­dence in legal dis­putes. Let’s explore why every employ­er should have one and what employ­ees need to know about them.

What Is an Employee Handbook?

An employ­ee hand­book is a doc­u­ment that pro­vides guide­lines on work­place poli­cies, pro­ce­dures, and expec­ta­tions. While not legal­ly required, a good hand­book helps ensure com­pli­ance with labor laws and cre­ates con­sis­ten­cy in com­pa­ny practices.

Com­mon sec­tions in an employ­ee hand­book include:

• Work­place con­duct and expectations
• Anti-dis­crim­i­na­tion and harass­ment policies
• Wage and hour policies
• Leave poli­cies (FMLA, sick leave, vaca­tion, etc.)
• Dis­ci­pli­nary pro­ce­dures and ter­mi­na­tion policies
• Work­place safe­ty rules
• Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty and data secu­ri­ty policies

Are Employee Handbooks Legally Binding?

Con­tin­ue read­ing The Role of Employ­ee Hand­books in Employ­ment Law →

Part 1 of a series on West Virginia employment law

This blog arti­cle is the first part of a series I will write on employ­ment law in West Vir­ginia, with a focus on lit­i­ga­tion issues relat­ing to alleged wrong­ful discharge. 

I will start with the employ­ment at will rule, and will car­ry through with arti­cles on the numer­ous excep­tions to the employ­ment at will rule.

What is the employment at will rule?

The courts have long had a love-hate rela­tion­ship with the employ­ment at will rule. West Vir­ginia, like vir­tu­al­ly all oth­er states, adheres to the rule.

So, what is the employ­ment at will rule? For con­ve­nience, I will define it in terms of the right to end or ter­mi­nate the employ­ment rela­tion­ship, but more about that def­i­n­i­tion in a moment. And more below about the big qual­i­fi­ca­tion on the rule.

One way to state the rule is that both par­ties to the employ­ment rela­tion­ship, the employ­er and the employ­er, have the right to ter­mi­nate the employ­ment rela­tion­ship at any time and for any rea­son (but not for an ille­gal rea­son, and that is dis­cussed below). It is impor­tant to under­stand that those are the two essen­tial attrib­ut­es of the rule: to ter­mi­nate the employ­ment rela­tion­ship (1) at any time, and (2) for any rea­son. Both sides (employ­er and employ­ee) have that right, although the right is almost always exam­ined in terms of the employ­er’s right in wrong­ful dis­charge litigation.

West Virginia’s description of the rule

In the con­text of ter­mi­na­tion (more about that lat­er) the employ­ment at will rule has been described in West Vir­ginia this way: the rule allows an employ­er to ter­mi­nate an employ­ee for:

Con­tin­ue read­ing The employ­ment at will rule in West Vir­ginia →