When you plan to hire employees who work in Oklahoma, all of your employment documents need to comply with federal and Oklahoma employee requirements—including your Oklahoma employee handbook.
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. Importantly, they also offer an introduction to the company, act as a resource for employees and managers, and set expectations.
However, if your Oklahoma employee handbook fails to comply with state-specific employment laws, you could leave your company open to significant risk.
Researching and writing your own employee handbooks is often time-consuming and expensive, especially when you’re hiring in more than one state. Good news! SixFifty has created an employment documents platform to help employers create their own customized, state-specific employee handbooks at a fraction of the cost and time it would take otherwise.
Here’s what you need to know about Oklahoma employee handbook requirements.
Required Oklahoma employee handbook policies
Oklahoma has three state-specific, required policies:
- Jury Duty Leave
- Meal and Rest Breaks (minors only)
- Voting Leave
Note that the meal and rest breaks policy only applies to minors, so if your company does not hire minors, you may not need to include that within your employee handbook.
Optional Oklahoma employee handbook policies
In addition to the three required Oklahoma employee handbook policies, employers may include any or all of the following optional policies:
- Affinity Group Policy
- Arbitration Policy
- Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption 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; Parental Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; Witness Duty Leave; Civil Service Leave; School Activity 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 structure, you may not need or want to include many or any of these policies. For example, if your company doesn’t require driving for employment purposes, an electronic devices while driving policy is likely unnecessary.
Required federal employee handbook policies
If you choose to create an employee handbook, include these required federal employee handbook 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 an Oklahoma employee handbook
Researching and drafting a customized, Oklahoma-specific handbook that complies with state and federal laws can be daunting, even if you only plan to include required policies. It’s also risky: if you accidentally violate state or federal employment law, your organization could be held liable.
There are a few different options to ensure that your handbook is compliant. You could hire an attorney to draft your handbook. This is a secure option—but if you’re hiring in more than one state, those billable hours add up.
Some companies use one-size-fits-all online templates, but that’s not a good solution. There’s no guarantee that templates will include all of the required federal or state-specific policies and language.
SixFifty knows the challenges employers face when drafting compliant documents. That’s why we’ve created Employment Docs. Our platform supports employers through each stage of the employment life cycle, beginning with offer letters and employee handbooks and ending with termination and offboarding. We make it easy to generate top-tier documents—including Oklahoma handbooks and their requirements—for a fraction of the time and cost of hiring an attorney or doing it yourself. Best of all, our legal team watches for changes to employment law across the nation. If there are any updates, you’ll be notified so you can update your handbooks as needed.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo today!