When you hire employees who work in Louisiana, your employee handbook needs to comply with federal and Louisiana state employee 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 offer several advantages: they can serve as an introduction to the company, provide important information on expectations, describe your policies and procedures, and mitigate your legal liability.
However, if your Louisiana employee handbook policies run afoul of state or federal law, you could expose your company to significant legal risk. Drafting state-specific employee handbooks can be time-consuming and expensive, especially when you’re hiring in more than one state.
SixFifty’s employment documents platform supports employers and makes state and federal compliance easier, faster, and more cost-effective than ever. Here’s what to know about creating your own Louisiana employee handbooks.
Required Louisiana employee handbook policies
Louisiana has seven state-specific employment policies which must be included in employee handbooks:
- Meal and Rest Breaks (minors only)
- Pregnancy Leave (for companies with 25 or more employees)
- Bone Marrow Donor Leave (for companies with 20 or more employees)
- Jury Duty Leave
- Volunteer First Responder Leave
- School and Day Care Conference and Activities Leave
- Whistleblower Policy
Note that there are three policies which have age or employee number thresholds. If your company doesn’t hire minors, or doesn’t meet the size threshold, you don’t need to include those policies in your handbook. However, you may want to include them if you’re close to the threshold or plan to hire minors in the future.
Optional Louisiana employee handbook policies
In addition to the seven required policies, Louisiana employers can also include the following optional policies:
- Affinity Group Policy
- Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy
- Arbitration Policy
- At-Will Employment Policy
- Background Check Policy
- Business Expense Policy
- Cell Phone Policy
- Code of Conduct 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
- Holidays
- Home Office Reimbursement Policy
- Immigration Law Compliance
- Job Duties Policy
- Key or Access Card Policy
- Lactation Accommodation Policy
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Bereavement Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; Voting Leave; Witness Duty Leave
- Marijuana Policy
- Off-Duty Use of Facilities
- 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
- Social Media Policy
- Solicitation and Distribution of Literature Policy
- Technology Systems Policy
- Temporary/Permanent Relocation Policy
- Timekeeping Policy
- Vacation/Paid Time Off
- Video Conferencing Policy
- Weapons in the Workplace Policy
- Workers’ Compensation Policy
- Workplace Violence Policy
- Workplace Visitor Policy
- Workweek and Work Schedules Policy
Depending on your company and employment type, industry, and other factors, you may not need or want to include all of these policies in your handbook.
Required federal employee handbook policies
All employee handbooks, regardless of state, should include the following federal employment law policies:
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy
- Equal Employment and Anti-Discrimination Policy
- Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy (for companies with more than 50 employees)
- Jury Duty Leave
- Military Service Leave
- Sexual Harassment Policy
- Lactation Accommodation Policy
- Religious Accommodation 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 Louisiana employee handbook
Creating your own Louisiana employee handbook can be a challenge. Researching and drafting each state-specific employee handbook requires careful attention to state and federal employment laws—and failing to draft your handbook in accordance with the law could leave your organization open to legal risk.
Some employers hire an attorney to draft their employee handbooks, which is one of the safest options available. However, if you’re hiring in more than one state, those billable hours will add up fast.
Other employers might be tempted to turn to online templates, but that can be risky. There’s no guarantee that one-size-fits-all employee handbook templates will include all the required state policies or that the language will be appropriate.
That’s why SixFifty has created our Employment Docs platform for employers. Instead of doing the research and drafting yourself, hiring a lawyer, or relying on a template, you can generate your own customized, state-specific employee handbook that meets all Louisiana employee handbook requirements. Employment Docs empowers employers to generate top-tier employment documents for every stage of the employment life cycle, from offer letters and employee handbooks to separation agreements and offboarding documents. Plus, our legal team keeps watch over changes to employment legislation across the country. If there are any new developments, we’ll notify you so you can regenerate your handbooks.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo today!