create your own employee handbook a legal and practical guide phần 7 pps

However, if have monitoring software that youplan to use, or if you intend to read employee email on a regularbasis, you should modify this portion of the policy to let youremployees kno

reason You should not expect that any email message you send

using Company equipment—including messages you consider to

be, or label as, personal—will be private

Email Rules

All of our policies and rules of conduct apply to employee use of

the email system This means, for example, that you may not use

the email system to send harassing or discriminatory messages,

including messages with explicit sexual content or pornographic

images; to send threatening messages; or to solicit others to

purchase items for non-Company purposes

We expect you to exercise discretion in using electronic

commu-nications equipment When you send email using the Company’s

communications equipment, you are representing the Company

Make sure that your messages are professional and appropriate, in

tone and content Remember, although email may seem like a

private conversation, email can be printed, saved and forwarded to

unintended recipients You should not send any email that you

wouldn’t want your boss, your mother or our Company’s competitors

to read

Deleting Emails

Because of the large volume of emails our Company sends and

receives, we discourage employees from storing large numbers of

email messages Please make a regular practice of deleting emails

once you have read and/or responded to them If you need to save

a particular email, you may print out a paper copy, archive the

email or save it to your hard disk The Company will purge email

messages that have not been archived after [number] days.

Violations

Any employee who violates this policy can be subject to discipline,

up to and including termination

Need advice on how to investigate? If you need infor-

mation on how to investigate alleged misconduct in the workplace, includ- ing harassment complaints, Dealing with Problem Employees, by Amy DelPo & Lisa Guerin (Nolo), will guide you through every step of the process— from deciding who should conduct the investigation to figuring out what

to do once your investigation is complete.

How to Complete This Policy

Many email policies provide that messages will be purged every 60days (for more on the importance of purging email, see below).Some recommend that you purge your system every 30 days, tominimize your potential legal exposure Others suggest longer timeperiods (90 days or more) between purges, to make sure you don’tlose important business information accidentally Select a timeperiod that makes sense for your business, given your rate of emailtraffic, the capacities of your system and how quickly your employeesread (and respond to) their email

Reality Check: Don’t Fight the Urge to Purge E-Mail

There are two very good reasons to purge your email system bydeleting older messages regularly First, if you don’t delete messages,you will eventually have a storage problem on your hands Manyemployees simply don’t get around to deleting old messages, nomatter what your policy asks them to do If you have a lot of emailtraffic, your system’s capacity to store information will be over-whelmed unless you take steps to get rid of the messages you don’tneed

Second, purging emails can reduce your legal liability and yourlegal obligations if you are sued In many kinds of business lawsuits,including lawsuits brought by employees, customers or other busi-nesses, email becomes evidence Realizing this, lawyers who suebusinesses routinely ask for months, or even years, of the company’semail messages in “discovery,” the legal process by which parties

to a lawsuit gather documents and information from each other andfrom third parties Although courts often put limits on what compa-nies have to hand over (for example, they may require only emails

on a certain subject matter or emails for a limited time period to beproduced), businesses that get hit with one of these requests canspend a lot of time trying to pull together the requested documents.What’s worse, they may end up having to turn over an email thathurts their cause

An email purging policy reduces your risks and your obligations

if you get sued After all, you can only hand over what you’ve got

If you regularly delete older emails, you won’t have to wade throughand, perhaps, give your opponent years’ worth of messages

Optional Modifications

To Prohibit Personal Use of Email

Some employers don’t want employees to use their email systems

for personal messages at all Although this is entirely reasonable,

such a policy might pose practical and legal problems The practical

problem is quite straightforward: most people send the occasional

personal message using their office email system Some might not

have an Internet connection at home; others might have a message

that has to be conveyed immediately (“I’ll be home late” or “don’t

forget to pick the kids up after soccer practice”) Whatever the

reason, the truth is that a policy forbidding any personal use of

email will probably be violated regularly, by everyone from the

CEO on down and if you don’t enforce the policy, it isn’t worth

much (and it may undermine your credibility)

The legal problem is a bit more complicated The National Labor

Relations Board (NLRB), the federal government agency that issues

decisions and makes rules relating to union workplace issues, has

said that prohibiting all personal uses of email might illegally prevent

workers from talking about forming a union Although employers

can prohibit workers from talking about union issues during work

hours in work areas, they cannot prohibit these discussions during

non-work hours in non-work areas (a locker room or lunch room,

for example) The NLRB says that a ban on all personal messages

deprives employees of the right to talk about union issues during

non-work hours and might therefore run afoul of the law So far,

this is only the NLRB’s opinion; no legal decision has settled the

issue

Our policy balances these issues and your interest in preventing

a lot of personal use of your equipment by allowing personal

messages only outside of work hours, and only at the company’s

discretion This policy avoids the legal and practical problems

dis-cussed above, but also leaves you room to discipline an employee

who taxes the system by sending files with gigantic attachments,

spending hours sending instant messages or sending “chain letter”

correspondence to dozens of recipients

However, if you’re intent on prohibiting any personal use of

your email system, you can modify the policy by replacing the

language under “Use of the Email System” as follows:

The email system is to be used for official Company businessonly—not for personal reasons

To Announce Your Plans to Monitor

Our sample policy states that you “reserve the right” to monitoremail messages However, if have monitoring software that youplan to use, or if you intend to read employee email on a regularbasis, you should modify this portion of the policy to let youremployees know After all, the purpose of an email policy is notonly to allow you to read those problematic messages after they’vebeen sent, but also to deter your employees from sending them in

the first place Telling employees that you will read their messages

will almost certainly help you accomplish this second goal

Whether you should read employee email on a regular basis is atough issue to sort through Doing so will force your employees totake the email policy seriously and thereby reduce the possibilitythat they will send messages that are harassing, threatening or other-wise in violation of your policy It’s just human nature: We are lesslikely to break rules if we think we will get caught But there aresome serious downsides as well with employee dissatisfactiontopping the list Employees don’t want to feel like the companydoesn’t trust them or plans to check up on their every keystroke.Monitoring also costs time and money: You will have to invest inmonitoring software and assign someone the task of actually readingthe messages And some employers just find monitoring distasteful.They don’t want to be cast in the role of Big Brother

Ultimately, only you can decide, based on your workforce andthe needs of your company, whether the benefits of monitoringoutweigh the disadvantages If you do decide to monitor regularly,you should modify our sample policy to tell your employees whatyou plan to do Use one of the modifications below in place of the

“Email Is Not Private” paragraph in our sample policy Whichmodification you choose will depend on the monitoring software

or other system you adopt

Modification A: Monitoring Systems That Copy Every Draft

Email Is Not Private

Email messages sent using Company communications equipment

are the property of the Company The Company’s monitoring

soft-ware automatically creates a copy of every message you draft—

even if you never send it Company personnel will regularly read

these copies to make sure that no employee violates this policy

You should not expect that any email message you draft or send

using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be

personal—will be private

Modification B: Monitoring Systems that Flag Key Words

Email Is Not Private

Email messages sent using Company communications equipment

are the property of the Company The Company’s software

auto-matically searches the messages you send for questionable content

—including sexual or racial comments, threats, Company trade

secrets or competitive information and inappropriate language Any

message deemed questionable will be forwarded to, and read by,

Company management In addition, the Company reserves the right

to read any message, whether or not the software singles it out for

review You should not expect that any email message you send

using Company equipment—including messages you consider to be

personal—will be private

Modification C: Random Monitoring

Email Is Not Private

Email messages sent using Company communications equipment

are the property of the Company We reserve the right to access,

monitor, read and/or copy email messages at any time, for any

reason In addition, the Company will select and read employee

messages at random to ensure that employees are in compliance

with this policy You should not expect that any email message you

send using Company equipment—including messages you consider

to be personal—will be private

To Add Email Rules—“Netiquette” and Other Issues

You can include as much—or as little—in your policy about priate use of the email system as you wish However, you shouldtell employees that their email messages are subject to the samerules (no harassment, no threats and so on) that apply to theirworkplace behavior in general You can make a general statement

appro-to this effect or go inappro-to more detail, listing the types of misconduct

to which email is particularly susceptible

Some employers include email-writing guidelines in their policies.Because email is often seen as an informal medium, some workerssend out even work-related messages sprinkled with icons (littlesmiley-faces or other symbols) and exclamation points, written inall lower- or upper-case letters or filled with acronyms and usagespeculiar to the online world What’s worse, some workers send outemail without considering its content or style, then later regrethaving expressed anger too hastily or sent a message that doesn’tlook professional

The standard policy, above, includes a general statement aboutproper email use If you’re concerned about these problems, how-ever, you can include more explicit instructions on the proper use

of email

Guidelines for Email Writing

1 Always spell-check or proofread Email is official Company

correspondence Spelling errors in email are all too common

—and they look sloppy and unprofessional Always take the

time to check for spelling errors before you send email

2 Use lowercase and capital letters in the same way that you

would in a letter Using all capital letters is the email equivalent

of shouting at someone—and it can be hard on the eyes Failing

to use capital letters at all (to begin a sentence or a formal noun)

can confuse your reader and seem overly cute Unless you are

writing poetry, use standard capitalization

3 Remember your audience Although email encourages informal

communication, that might not be the most appropriate style to

use if you are addressing the CEO of an important customer

And remember that your email can be forwarded to unintended

recipients—some of whom may not appreciate joking comments

or informalities

4 Don’t use email for confidential matters Again, remember the

unintended recipient—your email might be forwarded to

some-one you didn’t anticipate, or might be sitting on a printer for all

to see If you need to have a confidential discussion, do it in

person or over the phone

5 Send messages sparingly There is rarely a need to copy

everyone in the Company on an email Carefully consider who

really needs to see the message, and address it accordingly

6 Always think before you send Resist the urge to respond in

anger, to “flame” your recipient or to get emotional Although

email gives you the opportunity to respond immediately, you

don’t have to take it

15:2 Internet Use

If you offer your employees Internet access, you should have apolicy telling them what uses of that equipment you considerappropriate Without such a policy, you run the practical risk thatyour employees will spend work time surfing the Web, shoppingonline, exchanging instant messages with friends both near and farand perhaps unwittingly downloading viruses that will crash yourcompany’s computer system You also run the legal risk that youremployees will use your Internet access to engage in illegal behavior

—such as pirating software or viewing pornographic images thatcreate a hostile work environment (and therefore a potential sexualharassment problem)

Your Internet policy should describe proper uses of the Internetand tell employees which sites are off limits If you use software thatprevents employees from visiting certain sites and/or makes a record

of sites an employee visits, you should include that information inyour policy as well

We offer you two different versions of an Internet policy Policy

A is a basic Internet policy, while Policy B is designed for employerswho use blocking or screening software to prevent their employeesfrom visiting certain websites

Standard Policy A

Using the Internet

We may provide you with computer equipment and capabilities,

including Internet access, to help you perform your job This policy

governs your use of that equipment to access the Internet

Personal Use of the Internet

Our network and Internet access are for official Company business

only Employees may access the Internet for personal use only

out-side of work hours and only in accordance with the other terms of

this policy An employee who engages in excessive Internet use,

even during non-work hours, or who violates any other provision of

this policy, may be subject to discipline

Prohibited Uses of the Internet

Employees may not, at any time, access the Internet using Company

equipment or links for any of the following purposes:

• To visit websites that feature pornography, gambling or

vio-lent images, or are otherwise inappropriate in the workplace

• To operate an outside business, solicit money for personal

purposes or to otherwise act for personal financial gain—this

includes running online auctions

• To download software, articles or other printed materials in

violation of copyright laws

• To download any software program without the express

• To read, open or download any file from the Internet without

first screening that file for viruses using the Company’s virus

detection software

Internet Use Is Not Private

We reserve the right to monitor employee use of the Internet at any

time, to ensure compliance with this policy You should not expect

that your use of the Internet—including but not limited to the sites

you visit, the amount of time you spend online and the

communi-cations you have—will be private

Standard Policy B

Using the Internet

We may provide you with computer equipment and capabilities,including Internet access, to help you perform your job This policygoverns your use of that equipment to access the Internet

Personal Use of the Internet

Our network and Internet access are for official Company businessonly Employees may access the Internet for personal use only out-side of work hours and only in accordance with the other terms ofthis policy An employee who engages in excessive Internet use,even during non-work hours, may be subject to discipline

Prohibited Uses of the Internet

Employees may not, at any time, access the Internet using Companyequipment or links for any of the following purposes:

• To visit websites that feature pornography, gambling or lent images, or are otherwise inappropriate in the workplace

vio-• To operate an outside business, solicit money for personalpurposes or to otherwise act for personal financial gain—thisincludes running online auctions

• To download software, articles or other printed materials inviolation of copyright laws

• To download any software program without the express

• To read, open or download any file from the Internet withoutfirst screening that file for viruses using the Company’s virusdetection software

Internet Use Is Not Private

To assure that employees comply with this policy, we use filteringsoftware, which will block your access to many prohibited sites.However, some inappropriate websites may escape detection bythe software—the fact that you can access a particular site does notnecessarily mean that site is appropriate for workplace viewing

We also use monitoring software, which keeps track of the sites

an employee visits and how much time is spent at a particular site,among other things You should not expect that your use of theInternet—including but not limited to the sites you visit, the amount

of time you spend online and the communications you have—will

be private

How to Complete This Policy

Both versions of our policy leave you a space to designate

some-one authorized to approve software downloads The purpose of

this provision is to keep you out of trouble for unauthorized use of

copyrighted software, otherwise known as software piracy If

someone in your company has to approve downloads ahead of

time, you can make sure that your employees don’t unwittingly

violate someone else’s copyright or license

For companies with computer specialists or dedicated technical

help, simply fill in the position of the appropriate person (for

ex-ample, the systems operator) For those who run smaller companies,

don’t worry—you don’t need to have a highly-paid technical army

to enforce this provision If you have an employee who oversees

your computer system, that person should be able to figure out

which software can be downloaded freely (and which can’t) If you

use an outside consultant to provide technical support, you can

simply name a company official, who can pass questions on to

your consultant, then let employees know what to do In either

case, name the person to whom employees should bring their

questions

Optional Modification to Ban All Personal Uses of

the Internet

Our standard policies allow personal use of the Internet outside of

work hours—as long as that use is not excessive and does not

vio-late the policy’s other prohibitions The purpose of this provision is

simple: many employees do use the Internet for personal purposes

(such as holiday gift shopping, keeping up with their investments

or checking the news or weather) Allowing them to do so during

non-work hours will make it more likely that they spend their

work hours actually doing what you pay them to do

However, some employers ban any personal use of the Internet,

reasoning that a flat prohibition is clearer for employees and easier

for employers to enforce If you wish to include a ban on personal

use, you can replace the “Personal Use of the Internet” provision

with the following language:

Personal Use of the Internet Is Prohibited

Our network and Internet access are for official Company businessonly Employees may not access the Internet for personal use at anytime Any employee who uses the Company’s Internet access forpersonal reasons, or who violates any other provision of this policy,may be subject to discipline

Form D: Email and Internet Policy

Acknowledgment Form

If you adopt an email policy or an Internet policy that allows you

to monitor, you should ask employees to sign a form acknowledging

that they have read the policy and agree to abide by its terms

Currently, at least one state (Delaware) requires employers to get

a signed acknowledgment form from their employees before they

engage in Internet or email monitoring Other states are considering

legislation that would impose a similar requirement If you live in a

state with this type of law, you must use this acknowledgment form

Even if your state doesn’t require an employee’s signed

acknowl-edgment, however, it’s a good idea to use this form Having to sign

a form draws an employee’s attention to the policy—which not

only makes the employee more likely to comply with the policy,

but also takes away the employee’s ability to argue, later, that he

was unaware of it

Email and Internet Policy Acknowledgment

My signature on this form indicates that I have read the Company’s

email and Internet policies and I agree to abide by their terms I

understand that any email messages I send or receive using Company

equipment are not private, and that the Company may access,

monitor, read and/or copy those messages at any time, for any

reason I also understand that the Company reserves the right to

monitor my Internet use, and that such monitoring may occur at

any time, for any reason

Print name

Optional Modification If You Haven’t Adopted All

Policies Mentioned in Form D

If you have chosen not to adopt one of the policies above, you

will have to modify this form For example, if you have adopted an

email policy but have chosen not to adopt a policy that allows you

to monitor Internet traffic, be sure to modify the form to delete the

language referring to Internet monitoring

15:3 Software Use

The purpose of a software policy is to prevent your employeesfrom using company software in violation of your licensing agree-ments—and to make sure that employees don’t download piratedsoftware from the Internet If your employees violate the terms of asoftware license agreement that the company is party to, you will

be on the hook Illegal software copying and use is very common

—so much so that many employees don’t even know it’s illegal Anemployee might think it’s perfectly fine to make a copy of companysoftware to install on a home computer, as long as that computer isused for work, for example But software licenses typically authorizeonly a single user, at a single computer Adopting a policy will letyour employees know the rules

This policy also tells your employees that you will conduct periodicaudits of company computer equipment, to monitor compliancewith the software policy This language lets employees know thatyou are serious about enforcing the policy—and puts them onnotice that you reserve the right to inspect their computers

Standard Policy

Software Use

It is our Company’s policy to use licensed software only in dance with the terms of its license agreement Violating a licenseagreement is not only unethical—it is also illegal and can subjectthe Company to criminal prosecution and substantial monetarypenalties

accor-To help us adhere to this policy, employees may not do any of

• Make a copy of any Company software program, for anyreason

• Install a Company software program on a home computer

• Install a personal software program (that is, software owned

by the employee) on any Company computer

• Download any software program from the Internet to aCompany computer

The Company may audit Company-owned computers at any time

to ensure compliance with this policy

How to Complete This Policy

We’ve left you a space to designate someone authorized to approve

any deviations from the policy Choose the same person that you

designated to approve software downloads in your Internet Policy,

above ■

Employee Records

If you are like most employers, you keep all of the records ing to an employee in one place—usually a manila folder in a filecabinet labeled “personnel files.” Typically, these files containdocuments such as the employee’s job application and resumé,letters of reference, offer letter, IRS W-4 Form, records of perfor-mance and discipline, emergency contacts, a signed handbookacknowledgment form and so on

pertain-Prudent employers keep these files under lock and key After all,personnel records contain highly sensitive, personal information.Sometimes, however, it is appropriate for an employee, manager orsupervisor to review some or all of the file’s contents

The records section of your handbook should inform employeesthat you maintain personnel files, explain that the files are confi-dential and indicate whether—and under what circumstances—employees and others can inspect them

In this chapter, we include the following policies:

16:1 Personnel Records 16/216:2 Confidentiality 16/316:3 Changes in Personal Information 16/416:4 Inspection of Personnel Records 16/516:5 Work Eligibility 16/716:6 Medical Records 16/8

16:1 Personnel Records

Your personnel file policy should start with some general tion, to lay the foundation for the policies to come—in particular,the policy requiring employees to notify you of changes to per-sonal information and the policy alerting employees to their right

informa-to inspect personnel records After all, employees can understandtheir rights and obligations regarding personnel records only ifthey know about the records in the first place

The following standard policy notifies employees that you tain personnel files, and it gives employees an idea of what recordsyou do—and do not—keep in the file

main-Standard Policy

Your Personnel File

This Company maintains a personnel file on each employee Thepurpose of this file is to allow us to make decisions and take actionsthat are personally important to you, including notifying your family

in case of an emergency, calculating income tax deductions andwithholdings and paying for appropriate insurance coverage

Although we cannot list here all of the types of documents that

we keep in your personnel file, examples include: [list examples

of the documents you keep in the file]

We do not keep medical records or work eligibility forms in yourpersonnel file Those are kept separately To find out more aboutthose types of records, see Section and Section , respec-tively, of this Handbook

If you have any questions about your personnel file, contact

For a Handbook

Acknowledg-ment Form, see Chapter 2.

16:2 Confidentiality

Always treat your employee personnel records as private To do

otherwise is to risk embarrassment for the employee and a lawsuit

for yourself Employees need to feel confident that their personal

information won’t become public knowledge just because it is in a

file Otherwise, employees might be reticent to give you personal

information

The need for confidentiality must sometimes give way to other

considerations, however For example, an employee’s supervisor

might want to look at the employee’s resume when it becomes

clear that the employee can’t do the job Or your office manager

might need the employee’s emergency contact information if the

employee becomes incapacitated at work You want a confidentiality

policy that gives you the flexibility to reveal information in the file

to people in your organization who need to know it

The following standard policy gives the confidentiality assurance

employees need while keeping things flexible for you

Standard Policy

Confidentiality of Personnel Files

Because the information in your personnel file is by its nature

personal, we keep the file as confidential as possible We allow

access to your file only on a need-to-know basis

16:3 Changes in Personal

Information

Your personnel records are only as good as the information that’s

in them Take good care to keep the information up to date ously, the employee is the best person to keep your records frombecoming stale As things happen in their personal lives, however,

Obvi-it may not occur to employees to let you know of the changes.This could have implications for work For example, the boss maynot be the first person an employee thinks to tell when the

employee’s spouse files for divorce If the employee becomes sick

at work, however, and the office manager calls the soon-to-be-exspouse (who is still listed as an emergency contact) the situationcould turn embarrassing at best and medically dangerous at worst.This standard policy reminds employees of the importance ofkeeping you posted about certain changes in their personal infor-mation

Standard Policy

Please Notify Us If Your Information Changes

Because we use the information in your personnel file to takeactions on your behalf, it is important that the information in thatfile be accurate Please notify

whenever any of the following changes:

• your name

• your mailing address

• your phone number

• your dependents

• the number of dependents you are designating for income taxwithholding

• your marital status

• the name and phone number of the individual whom weshould notify in case of an emergency

• restrictions on your driver’s license

16:4 Inspection of Personnel

Records

Although many employers would rather not have employees

inspecting their own personnel records, many state laws require

that you give your employees access These laws vary greatly in

the details In some states, employees may review their files only at

specified hours In other states, only past employees, not current

employees, have the right to inspect

Typically, these laws state who can inspect, when they can

inspect, whether they have to give notice, whether they can

photo-copy their file and whether they have to pay for the copies To

find out about your state’s law, refer to the “State Laws on Access

to Personnel Records” chart at the end of this chapter You can

also check with your state labor department (See Appendix C for

contact details.)

Because the laws vary so much, we cannot provide a standard

policy for you to use The following is an example of what your

policy might look like

SAMPLE POLICY LANGUAGE:

Current employees who want to inspect their personnel files must

make an appointment with the Human Resources Department.

Appointments will typically take place Monday through Friday

between 1:00 p.m and 5:00 p.m Although we will make every

effort to give employees an appointment quickly, it may take up

to 48 hours If an employee would like a representative to view

his or her file, the employee must make the request in writing.

Former employees who would like to inspect their files must

make a written request to do so Upon receiving the written

request, the Human Resources Department will call the former

employee to schedule an appointment.

We do not allow current or former employees to photocopy

their file If you would like a copy of a document in the file, the

Human Resources Department will copy it for you at a price of

$.10 per page.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact

Myrtle Means, the Human Resources Manager.