If your company uses an employee handbook, it’s important that it complies with all local, state, and federal laws—and when you hire employees in more than one state, the handbook must be updated accordingly.

Employee handbooks aren’t required by law, but they can be a key resource for employees. If you have or plan to hire employees, communicating your organization’s policies, standards, best practices, and expectations is key. Many businesses create their own customized employee handbook, which introduces the company and includes important federal, state, local, and general company policies.

When you have or plan to hire employees in Tennessee, an employee handbook can help introduce them to the company, provide resources for their success, set expectations, and explain important company policies.

California is an outlier compared to most states; non-compete agreements are unenforceable. While employers can seek out other ways to protect confidential company information, a non-compete agreement is not an option.

Non-compete agreements can be standalone agreements or part of a broad employment contract. They bind a current or former employee, contractor, or consultant from competing with an employer, whether on their own or at another company, for a certain period of time after employment ends.

In May 2023, Minnesota passed a law banning employee non-compete agreements and the NLRB released a memo stating that non-competes violate the National Labor Relations Act. 

The employee offboarding process allows organizations to collect feedback and company property, reduce security risks, and help ease the transition for the employee and the rest of their team.

Employment release agreements are used to release the employer from any potential claims which may have arisen during the employee’s tenure at the company. In exchange, the employer provides the employee with certain consideration. This is often a severance package.

If you plan to use an employment termination agreement, it needs to follow all applicable state laws and regulations. That can be challenging when you’ve hired workers in more than one state: you’ll need to research to ensure that the employee termination agreement is legally enforceable in their location.