Employment Law Does my business need an employee manual or handbook?
In Pennsylvania, employers with as few as four employees are subject to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, which prohibits discriminatory and harassing treatment of employees based on gender, race, age or disability. The federal laws prohibiting such conduct apply to employers with as few as fifteen employees. Both the state and federal laws create a defense to certain types of discrimination and harassment claims if the employer has in place a procedure for making complaints about such conduct that has been distributed to employees. Having policies and procedures published in a manual or handbook for the most common employment issues will save time and money, and prevent any claims of unfairness. If your employee handbook is prepared by a lawyer, you will have the added reassurance of knowing that your responses to these issues are consistent with the variety of federal and state laws that affect the employment relationship. Your employee handbook will allow you to avoid waste of t
