When employing people who work in Nebraska, your employee handbook must adhere to both federal and Nebraska 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 serve as a company introduction, offer vital information on expectations, outline policies and procedures, and reduce potential legal liability.
However, if your Nebraska employee handbook policies don’t align with state or federal law, your company may face significant risk. Crafting state-specific employee handbooks can be a time-consuming and costly endeavor, especially when hiring in multiple states.
Fortunately, SixFifty’s Employment Docs extends valuable support to employers, simplifying state and federal compliance and making the process more efficient and cost-effective.
Here’s what you need to know about creating your own Nebraska employee handbooks.
Required Nebraska employee handbook policies
Nebraska has eleven required state employee handbook policies:
- Crime Victim Leave
- Election Worker Leave
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Jury Duty Leave
- Meal and Rest Breaks (for certain industries)
- Military Service Leave
- Pay Transparency Policy
- Volunteer Emergency Responder Leave
- Voting Leave
- Whistleblower (15 Employees)
- Witness Duty Leave
Note that both the Military Service Leave and Whistleblower Policies have an employee threshold, and Meal and Rest Breaks Policy only applies to certain industries. If you’re below the employee threshold and/or are not in an affected industry, you don’t need to include those policies.
Optional Nebraska employee handbook policies
In addition to the eleven required policies, Nebraska employers can pick and choose which optional employee handbook policies they’d like to include, 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
- Immigration Law Compliance
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Parental Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence 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 industry, company and employment type, company size and other factors, you likely will not want or need to include all of the optional policies.
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) in which they have employees. 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 Nebraska employee handbook
Creating your own Nebraska employee handbook can be a challenge. Creating state-specific employee handbooks involves in-depth research and drafting to ensure compliance with state and federal employment laws. Failure to align your handbook with the law may subject your organization to legal risk.
Some employers choose to hire an attorney to draft their employee handbooks, a safer option. However, if you’re hiring in multiple states, billable hours can accumulate quickly. Alternatively, some employers might consider using online templates, but this route can be risky. There’s no assurance that one-size-fits-all employee handbook templates will cover all the required state policies or use appropriate language.
This is where SixFifty’s employee handbook creator comes in. Rather than embarking on the research and drafting process yourself, engaging a lawyer, or relying on bad templates, Employment Docs allows you to create your own customized, state-specific employee handbooks that fully comply with Nebraska employee handbook requirements. Employment Docs supports employers throughout the entire employment life cycle, from crafting offer letters and employee handbooks to separation agreements and offboarding documents. SixFifty ensures top-tier employment documents, including handbooks that meet all Nebraska employee handbook requirements. Moreover, our legal team monitors changes to employment legislation nationwide. Should any new developments arise, we will notify you so you can update your handbooks accordingly.
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.
