Your employee handbook can do a lot: notify employees of their rights under the law, set forth standard policies and set expectations for employees. Here’s the updated Utah employee handbook requirements, you may be opening your business up to liability.
Did you know that Utah has five required federal policies, and nine mandatory state policies? On top of that, there are over 50 additional policies you can choose to add to your handbook. They cover everything from basic worker rights to dress codes, reimbursement policies and more.
Because state and federal laws change frequently, it’s the company’s responsibility to ensure that each policy is up to date and remains in compliance with updated laws.
When you hire in multiple states, keeping up with employment law changes can be time consuming. Yes, you get to work with top talent across the country—but few companies have time to research, create and update employee handbooks each time they hire in a new state. It can also be expensive, whether you’re using your own legal team or hiring outside counsel.
Don’t rack up hefty legal bills every time your company hires in a new state. SixFifty can help. Read on to learn about required and optional Utah employee handbook policies—and how we’ve developed a solution to make compliance fast, affordable and easy.
Required Federal Employee Handbook Policies
Federal law is the highest law in the land. Each employee handbook, regardless of state, is required to include eight main policies in their employee handbooks. These policies cover some of the most critical worker rights, such as sexual harassment policies, different types of leave and anti-discrimination laws.
Because the laws are the same across all 50 states, you’ll need to include them in each of your state-specific employee handbooks. Whenever the law changes, the handbooks will all need to be updated to remain in compliance with federal law.
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 Utah Employee Handbook Policies
In addition to required federal policies, the state of Utah also requires employers to include nine state policies. These include voting leave, jury duty leave and more.
When creating, maintaining and updating your Utah employee handbook, you might notice some overlap with required federal policies. States can further tailor federal laws to address local concerns, as long as it doesn’t infringe on the federal policies.
Finally, keep in mind that some of these required policies only apply to businesses with a certain number of employees—and the required meal and rest break policy only applies to minors.
Utah requires the following policies:
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Immigration Law Compliance (15 Employees)
- Jury Duty Leave
- Meal and Rest Breaks (minors only)
- Outside Employment Policy
- Pregnancy Accommodations (15 employees) (see SixFifty’s ADA Policy)
- Volunteer Emergency Responder Leave
- Voting Leave
- Witness Duty and Subpoena Leave
Optional Utah Employee Handbook Policies
There are over 50 optional policies you can choose to add to your Utah employee handbooks. Not every policy is applicable to every company, so your business should pick and choose which policies are necessary.
Most companies add broadly applicable policies, such as at-will employment, dress codes, benefits and leave policies. Depending on the industry, you might also want to include social media policies, gift policies, visitor policies and more. For instance, technology companies may wish to institute videoconferencing, telecommuting and company property policies.
Here are over 50 optional Utah state policies:
- 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
- Cannabis Policy
- Off-Duty Use of Facilities
- Outside Employment
- Overtime Policy
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Parental Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; Civil Service Leave; School Activity Leave
- Pay Transparency 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 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
SixFifty Helps Employers Meet Utah Employee Handbook Requirements
Keeping up with constantly changing employment laws can be a time-consuming proposition. Between researching, adding and updating Utah employment policies, creating a comprehensive handbook can be a full-time job itself.
SixFifty has solutions. With our employee handbook creator tool, we pair automation with real legal expertise, so you can automatically generate state-specific employee handbooks. Just answer a few questions, download the handbook files and have your lawyer review and approve. Plus, we’ll let you know when state and federal employment laws are updated, so you can make the necessary changes—it’s never been so fast, easy and affordable to stay in compliance with the law.
Questions? 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.
