When you’re hiring in Texas, you need to comply with both state and federal laws. Creating an employee handbook allows you to enumerate all your company policies, provide structure for employees, and notify workers of certain rights and obligations. Whether you’re hiring remotely or all your workers are located in Texas, you’ll need a state-specific employee handbook. Learn what the Texas employee handbook requirements are.
Employee handbooks aren’t just helpful guides: they ensure that your employees are notified of their rights under the law, as well as important company policies and guidelines. If employment conflicts arise, you’ll have documentation of your compliance.
Texas has relatively few required state policies. However, there are over 50 optional state policies that you might choose to include in your handbook. Researching laws, creating your handbook, and keeping it updated is a monumental task. If you’re hiring remotely, you’ll need to stay on top of employment laws and policies in each individual state. That’s a time consuming—and expensive—proposition.
SixFifty makes it easy to create and update employee handbooks in all 50 states. Read on to learn about required and optional Texas employee handbook policies, then find out how we take the tedious work out of compliance.
Required Federal Employee Handbook Policies
Federal employee handbook policies are required in all 50 states. Because federal law supersedes state law, these policies should be included no matter where you’re doing business. These policies cover critical worker rights, including anti-discrimination policies, certain types of leave, and the company’s sexual harassment policies.
The good news is that because these policies are the same across all 50 states, you’ll automatically include them in your employee handbook. However, whenever there’s a change to the law, each state handbook needs to be updated appropriately.
Each of the following policies must be included in your employee handbook:
- 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
Required Texas Employee Handbook Policies
While some states have over 20 required additional employee handbook policies, Texas only has six. Note that Texas specifically provides their own jury duty leave laws. While federal law supersedes state law, states are allowed to create additional rules, requirements, rights, and obligations on behalf of their citizens.
The state also provides voting leave, crime victim leave and leave if an employee is required to make a court appearance. Include these policies to ensure you’re compliant and protected under Texas state law:
- Crime Victim Leave
- Day of Rest Law (see SixFifty’s Workweek and Work Schedules Policy)
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Jury Duty Leave
- Voting Leave
- Witness Duty and Court Appearance Leave
Optional Texas Employee Handbook Policies
The six policies above are required in every Texas employee handbook. However, you may wish to include additional policies, from non-disclosure agreements to how you’ll handle workplace violence.
Not all of these policies will fit every business—you should pick and choose the optional policies that make sense for your company model. For instance, most companies will include at-will employment policies, holiday policies, and wage policies. Other policies may be added as necessary: tech companies may want to include telecommuting, social media, and company property guidelines, while others might include background checks and dress code policies. There’s even an option to add a policy for pets at work.
Here are over 50 optional policies you can include in your Texas employee handbook:
- 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; 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
SixFifty Helps Employers Meet Texas Employee Handbook Requirements
Researching, adding, and updating these Texas policies can be a full-time job—which is why SixFifty wants to make it easier for you. We’ve created an employee handbook creator that combines automation with real expertise from some of the nation’s top lawyers. You can automatically generate and update your Texas employee handbook with just a few clicks.
Save time and billable hours: just answer a few questions about your company, download the generated handbook, and have your lawyers approve. We’ll let you know when state or federal laws change, so your company stays protected.
Want to see how it works? Schedule a free demo with SixFifty today!
Looking to create an employee handbook for a different state? View our interactive map for required employee handbook policies by state.
