When you plan to hire employees who live and work in Mississippi, your employee handbook must comply with federal and Mississippi 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. Creating custom handbooks provides several benefits: they introduce the company, offer useful information on expectations, outline policies and procedures, and reduce the risk of legal liability.
However, violating state or federal law in your Mississippi employee handbook could expose your company to significant legal risk. Drafting state-specific handbooks can be a time-consuming and costly task, especially when you intend to expand your workforce across multiple states. If proper drafting wasn’t already, it has become incredibly important in light of the NLRB’s recent decision in Stericycle, Inc. and Teamsters Local 628. In that decision, the NLRB made it clear that any work rule or policy instituted by employers must advance a legitimate business interest and not infringe on employee rights under Section 7 of the NLRA.
Fortunately, SixFifty’s Employment Docs platform offers support to employers, simplifying state and federal compliance, making it faster and more cost-effective than ever to draft high-quality and compliant documents.
Here’s what you need to know about creating your own Mississippi employee handbooks.
Required Mississippi employee handbook policies
Mississippi has just three state-specific policy requirements:
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Immigration Law Compliance
- Jury Duty Leave
Policies for immigration law compliance and jury duty leave need to be included in all Mississippi employee handbooks, but there are no other requirements except federal policies.
Optional Mississippi employee handbook policies
In addition to three two required policies, Mississippi employers may choose to add optional policies like these:
- 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
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Parental Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; Voting Leave; Witness Duty Leave; Civil Service Leave; School Activity Leave
- Cannabis 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
- 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
- Workweek and Work Schedules Policy
Depending on your organization’s business, structure, employment type, and other relevant factors, you may not want to include every policy. For example, remote workers are unlikely to need a dress code policy, pets in the workplace policy, or a workplace visitor policy, while companies with only hourly workers probably won’t include a salary pay policy.
Required federal employee handbook policies
If you choose to create an employee handbook, you should include these policies that are required by federal employment law:
- 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) where their employees work. 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 Mississippi employee handbook
Creating your own Mississippi employee handbook can be a challenging endeavor. The process requires careful attention to state and federal employment laws, as any failure to adhere to the regulations could expose your organization to legal risk.
Some employers choose to hire an attorney for handbook drafting, which is one of the safest options available. However, if you’re hiring in multiple states, the billable hours can quickly add up. Alternatively, employers might consider turning to online templates, but this approach is also risky. There’s no guarantee that one-size-fits-all employee handbook templates will encompass all the necessary state policies or appropriate language.
This is why SixFifty has developed our employee handbook creator. Instead of diving into research to comply with Mississippi employment law, hiring a lawyer, or relying on a template, there’s a better way. Our platform empowers you to generate your own customized, state-specific employee handbooks that fully meet Mississippi employee handbook requirements. We support employers throughout the entire employment life cycle, from crafting offer letters and employee handbooks to handling separation agreements and offboarding documents. Employment Docs ensures you produce top-tier employment documents—and best of all, our legal team diligently monitors changes to employment legislation nationwide. Should any new developments arise, we will notify you so you can update your handbooks as needed.
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.
