When you hire employees who work in Kentucky, your employee handbook needs to comply with federal and Kentucky employment handbook requirements. While employers aren’t required to create and distribute employee handbooks, they are required to implement and comply with a variety of policies in the workplace. Employee handbooks are a good resource because they allow employers to easily document the required policies and show that they have complied with applicable law.
Employee handbooks offer an introduction to the company, act as a resource for employees and managers, set expectations, explain important company policies, and mitigate your legal risk. However, if your Kentucky employee handbook fails to comply with state-specific employment laws, you could leave your company open to significant risk.
Researching and drafting compliant employee handbooks can be daunting, especially when you hire in multiple states. SixFifty’s employment documents platform is the answer to your employee handbook needs. It’s now easy and cost-effective to generate compliant, state-specific handbooks for all 50 states. Read on to find out how it works.
Required Kentucky employee handbook policies
Kentucky has ten state-specific, required employee handbook policies:
- Adoption Leave (see SixFifty’s Parental Leave)
- Day of Rest Law (see SixFifty’s Workweek and Work Schedules Policy)
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Jury Duty Leave
- Meal and Rest Breaks
- Overtime
- Pregnancy Leave
- Volunteer Emergency Service Provider Leave
- Voting Leave
- Witness Duty Leave
These policies should appear in all of your Kentucky employee handbooks.
Optional Kentucky employee handbook policies
In addition to the ten required Kentucky policies, employers may feel free to include any or all of the following optional policies:
- Affinity Group Policy
- Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy
- Arbitration Policy
- At-Will Employment Policy
- Background Check Policy
- COBRA Policy
- Cell Phone Policy
- Code of Conduct Policy
- Business Expense Policy
- Company Property Policy
- Confidentiality and Trade Secrets Policy
- Desk Hoteling Policy
- Direct Deposit Policy
- Dress Code Policy
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Policy
- Electronic Devices While Driving Policy
- Employee Benefits Policy
- Employee Classification Policy
- Employee Dating Policy
- Employee References Policy
- Employment of Relatives Policy
- Exit Interview Policy
- Gifts Policy
- Health and Safety Policy
- Home Office Reimbursement Policy
- Job Duties Policy
- Key or Access Card Policy
- Holidays
- Immigration Law Compliance
- Cannabis Policy
- Off-Duty Use of Facilities
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; School Activity Leave
- Outside Employment Policy
- Overtime Policy
- Payment of Wages Policy
- Payroll Deductions Policy
- Performance Review Policy
- Personnel Files Policy
- Pets in the Workplace Policy
- Progressive Discipline Policy
- Public Relations Policy
- Punctuality and Attendance Policy
- Record Retention Policy
- Remote Working Policy
- Salary Pay Policy
- Smoking Policy
- Social Media Policy
- Solicitation and Distribution of Literature Policy
- Technology Systems Policy
- Temporary Relocation Policy
- Timekeeping Policy
- Vacation/Paid Time Off
- Video Conferencing Policy
- Weapons in the Workplace
- Workers’ Compensation Policy
- Workplace Violence Policy
- Workplace Visitor Policy
Depending on your company and employment type, industry, and other important considerations, you may not want or need to include any of the optional policies. For example, if your Kentucky employees are working from home, a telecommuting policy is probably appropriate, but a pets in the workplace policy may not be.
Required federal employee handbook policies
Finally, if you choose to create an employee handbook, you must also include these mandatory federal employee handbook policies:
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (15+ Employees)
- Employment and Anti-Discrimination Policy
- Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy (50 Employees)
- Jury Duty Leave
- Military Service Leave
- Sexual Harassment Policy
- Lactation Accommodation Policy
- Religious Accommodations Policy
Employers in all 50 states are required to implement these policies, in addition to any that are required by the specific state(s) in which they do business. Therefore, all of your employee handbooks should contain these federal policies (if your organization meets the 50-employee requirement for the FMLA Policy).
How to create a Kentucky employee handbook
The research and time it takes to draft your own Kentucky employee handbook can be tough to accommodate, even if you only plan to include the required state and federal policies. Plus, drafting your own handbook can be risky. If you violate state or federal employment laws, your organization could be exposed to legal liability.
Some employers hire attorneys to draft a handbook. That’s a safe option, but if you plan to hire employees in more than one state, the billable hours add up fast. On the other hand, using one-size-fits-all online templates is a cheaper but riskier choice. There’s no guarantee that a template will include all the required policies and language needed to protect your company. Copying-and-pasting from existing handbooks can present similar issues—and that could be a copyright violation, too.
Fortunately, SixFifty has a better option for employers. Instead of drafting your own handbook, using a template or hiring an attorney, we can do the heavy lifting for you. Our employee handbook creator platform helps employers through each stage of the employment life cycle, starting with offer letters and employee handbooks, all the way through termination and offboarding documents. It’s easier than ever to generate top-tier employment documents, including Kentucky employee handbooks with all the requirements. Best of all, because our legal team keeps a close eye on changes to employment law nationwide, you’ll be notified if you need to update your handbook.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo today!
Looking to create an employee handbook for a different state? View our interactive map for required employee handbook policies by state.
