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 10/26/2023

We have updated several policies in CalChamber's Employee Handbook Creator due to a significant decision recently handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The list of impacted policies is as follows:

• Off Duty Conduct.
• Workplace Privacy.
• Bulletin Boards.
• Electronic and Social Media.
• Off Duty Use of Facilities.
• Prohibited Personal Use of Company Cell Phone.
• Solicitation and Distribution of Literature.
• Conducting Personal Business.
• Confidential Information.
• Conflicts of Interest.
• News and Media.
• Prohibited Cell Phone Use.
• Prohibited Conduct.
• Prohibited Use of Company Cell Phone.

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects the rights of employees to engage in protected concerted activity to improve the terms and conditions of their employment (such as discussing wages, unsafe conditions, unionization, etc.). Employer rules that infringe on those rights are unlawful under the NLRA, which applies to most employers — even those that don’t have a unionized workforce.

Recently, the NLRB adopted a new test to determine if an employer’s handbook rule or policy violates the NLRA, under which a facially neutral employer rule will be found presumptively unlawful if it has “a reasonable tendency to chill employees” from exercising their rights under the NLRA. The employer’s intent in maintaining a rule is immaterial. Rather, if an employee could reasonably interpret the rule to have a coercive meaning, the rule is presumptively unlawful, even if a contrary, noncoercive interpretation of the rule is also reasonable.

The employer may rebut that presumption by proving that the rule advances a “legitimate and substantial business interest,” and that the employer is unable to advance that interest with a more “narrowly tailored” rule. Employers can read more about the decision on CalChamber’s HRWatchdog blog.

Due to the Board’s new test and its requirement that employers have “narrowly tailored” rules that advance legitimate and substantial business interests, we have revised several Employee Handbook Creator policies to more specifically articulate the employer rules and the justification for those rules. With these revisions, the reasonable employee reading the policy will understand the employer’s justification for the rule (e.g., to protect employee privacy, prevent workplace harassment, comply with other legal obligations, etc.) to make it clear that the rule doesn’t infringe on their NLRA rights.

The following is a brief description of all policy changes made for the new NLRB decision.

The Off Duty Conduct policy was entirely removed from the Employee Handbook Creator as it likely runs afoul of the NLRB’s new workplace rules test. The types of off-duty conduct that can be regulated by the employer are very narrow, such as harassment that takes place after hours or the disclosure of trade secrets, which is already addressed in other policies, such as the employer’s harassment and discrimination policy.

The Workplace Privacy policy was revised to remove the broad restriction on the use of cameras in the workplace and instead articulate narrow restrictions on the use of cameras and videos based on specific business interests and legal obligations.

The Bulletin Boards policy was revised to make it clear that it is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

The Electronic and Social Media policy was revised to better articulate the company’s interests and legal obligations regarding the rules on use of the company’s electronic devices and infrastructure, including data and record retention requirements, workplace safety, preventing workplace harassment, supporting defense of litigation, productivity, efficiency, and others. Additional language was added to make it clear that the policy is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA. We also made non-substantive language updates to the policy generally and removed the “Employee Owned Devices” option, instead combining with another policy to consolidate some potentially redundant language. The consolidated policy is in the Employee Handbook Creator’s Employee Conduct section and has been renamed “Use of Personal Devices.” It is described below.

The Off Duty Use of Facilities policy was revised to be more specific about the restrictions regarding off duty use of facilities, specifying that it does not include rest and meal break periods and provides an exception when the employer gives express authorization. Additional language was added to make it clear that the policy is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

In the Prohibited Personal Use of Company Cell Phone policy, additional language was added to make it clear that it is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA. We also made non-substantive language updates to the policy generally.

The Solicitation and Distribution of Literature policy was revised to describe the restrictions more specifically on solicitation and distribution of literature during working time to make it clear the restrictions do not apply to areas such as parking lots, break rooms, lunch areas, etc. It also specifies that working time does not include rest and meal break periods. Additional language was added to make it clear that the policy is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

In the Conducting Personal Business policy, language was added to make it clear that it is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

The Confidential Information policy was revised to be more specific about what types of information constitutes “confidential information” under the policy and what doesn’t (e.g., wage information and other terms and conditions of employment). Additional language was added at the end of the policy to make it clear that the policy is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

In the Conflicts of Interest policy, language was added to make it clear that it is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

The News and Media policy was revised to clarify that the policy doesn’t broadly restrict anyone from commenting to the news or media; rather, it only restricts people from commenting to news and media on the company’s behalf or as the company’s representative. Additional language was added to this policy to make it clear that the policy is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

The Prohibited Cell Phone Use policy was renamed to “Use of Personal Devices.” It was substantially revised to offer employers two options for a policy restricting the use of personal devices in the workplace: a more restrictive option that provides exceptions for emergencies and NLRA protected activities, and a less restrictive option that allows employees to occasionally use personal devices during working time so long as it doesn’t interfere with the employee’s work performance or violate any other company policy. As mentioned under the Electronic and Social Media policy section, the revisions here include consolidation of policy language removed from the Electronic and Social Media policy and added to this policy. The consolidation was made to eliminate potentially redundant policy language on the use of personal devices. Language was also added to this policy to make it clear that it is not intended to limit the ability of employees to engage in protected activities under the NLRA.

The Prohibited Conduct policy was revised to remove some of the very broad restrictions on employee conduct that might be scrutinized under the Board’s new standard. Language was also added to make it clear that the company will not discipline employees under this policy for conduct that relates to the employees’ ability to engage in protected activities under the law.

The Prohibited Use of Company Cell Phone policy was renamed to “Prohibited Use of Company Devices While Driving” to reflect the content of the policy more accurately, which is primarily focused compliance with California’s laws on the use of phones and devices while driving. Additional minor non-substantive language changes were also made.

If any of these updates apply to you, we highly recommend that you immediately update your handbooks with these changes and consult legal counsel with any questions you may have.

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.