California Employee Handbook Creator Online Tool 

California Employee Handbook Creator Online Tool - MASTEH

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Who knew creating an employee handbook could be so easy?

Maintaining a California handbook that complies with state and federal laws helps protect your business and employees. Think of it as a user manual for the workplace.

CalChamber's Employee Handbook Creator online tool guides you through every step of what is usually a complicated HR task. Conveniently access the Windows/Mac-compatible tool from your desktop or tablet.

Through a yearly subscription, use the Employee Handbook Creator to clearly communicate company policies and set expectations — in an employee handbook you create online and then export to print from your own printer.

Access more than 100 policies, including policies that are mandatory, suggested or optional for your company — such as the mandatory paid sick leave policies required by local ordinances or California's mandatory harassment, discrimination and retaliation prevention policy.

Your yearly subscription helps keep your handbook policies up to date. (See Compliance Alert below.)

Renewing your subscription each year at $104.99 (English or Spanish) means you'll continue to receive new and revised policy updates resulting from changes to California and federal employment laws or regulations.

You not only receive email notifications on policy updates throughout your subscription year, but the Employee Handbook Creator makes it simple to revise your handbook online.    

Check out CalChamber’s free “Employee Handbooks: A Workplace Essential” white paper.

2023 COMPLIANCE ALERT

It's always a best practice to keep your policies up to date with California employment laws.

Policy Update 4/4/2023

The following policy has been added:

• The San Francisco Military Leave Pay Protection Act (MLPPA) policy informs employees about their rights under this new ordinance, which took effect on February 19, 2023.

Under the MLPPA, employers with 100 or more employees globally must provide supplemental compensation for up to 30 days to employees who work in San Francisco and are on leave for military duty.

Covered employers must have a written policy in any employee handbook that describes other kinds of leave available; as such, the Employee Handbook Creator labels this policy as “mandatory.” When creating a new handbook, this policy will be automatically inserted if you have 100 or more employees globally and any of them are working in San Francisco. You can refer to the MLPPA “About this Policy” for additional details.

If you are a covered employer, we highly recommend you add this policy at your earliest opportunity. Even if you do not add it immediately as strongly recommended, you must include it in any future handbook that is published.

Additionally, the following policy has been updated:

• The Military Leave policy now includes optional language notifying employees about the MLPPA and directing them to the policy about potential supplemental compensation.

If you are a covered employer under the MLPPA, we also recommend that you add this language to your Military Leave policy.

Policy Update 1/3/2023

The following policies have been revised:

• Bereavement Leave. The bereavement leave policy was completely revised to address a new law that requires employers with five or more employees to provide bereavement leave to eligible employees. Prior to 2023, bereavement leave wasn’t required under state law; it was provided at the employer’s discretion. Beginning January 1, 2023, however, California employers with five or more employees are required to provide up to five days of bereavement to eligible employees when they experience the death of a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent or grandchild. The leave may be unpaid, but employees may choose to use accrued paid leave available to them during the leave. The law also allows employers to request documentation to support the leave. While a policy is not required under the statute, including a Bereavement Leave policy in your handbook is highly recommended; as such, the Employee Handbook Creator labels this policy as “suggested.”
• California Family Rights Act. This policy was revised to address the expansion of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). More specifically, in addition to the existing family members for whom employees can take CFRA leave, the expansion law allows eligible employees to take CFRA leave to care for a “designated person” with a serious health condition. A “designated person” is someone with whom the employee has a blood or family-like relationship. The employee may identify the individual at the time they request leave, and employers may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for purposes of CFRA leave.
• Paid Sick Leave/Paid Time Off. These policies were revised to address the expansion of California’s paid sick leave law, the Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act. In addition to the existing family members employees can take sick leave to care for, the expansion allows an employee to take paid sick leave to care for a “designated person,” who is any person identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick leave. That means employees may take paid sick leave to care for individuals outside of their family. Employers may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for purposes of paid sick leave.
• Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation. This policy was updated to address the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s expansion to now protect against discrimination on the basis of “reproductive health decision-making,” which includes, but is not limited to, a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product or medical service for reproductive health.
• Prohibited Cell Phone. This policy was revised to account for a new law that, in the event of an “emergency condition,” as defined, prohibits employers from preventing any employee from accessing the employee’s mobile device or other communications device for seeking emergency assistance, assessing the safety of the situation, or communicating with a person to verify their safety. For more information on any of the above policies, refer to each policy’s About This Policy tab.
• COVID-19 Policies and Issues. As we’ve seen since 2020, the issues and rules surrounding COVID-19 have been in a state of constant flux. Fortunately, California has been steadily moving forward in its return to normalcy, and it appears that trend will continue in 2023, as evidenced by Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement that California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency would come to an end on February 28, 2023. In accordance with the trend, you will see some changes in the Employee Handbook Creator with respect to COVID-19. Notably, the 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave policy has been removed because the leave expired at the end of 2022 and was not extended into 2023. Additionally, local sick leave ordinance polices for Emeryville, San Diego and San Francisco have been updated to reflect the current state of applicable COVID-19 guidance. Employers can review these policies in the About This Policy tab for more details.

Current Subscribers: Please sign in to the Employee Handbook Creator to review the changes. If either of these updates apply to you, we highly recommend that you update your handbook with these changes at your earliest opportunity.