Nearly every school and camp has a document of policies and procedures for their staff. Many employers create staff handbooks and employee manuals to memorialize their trainings, create uniformity from year to year, and provide clear expectations for employees.
What employers often don’t realize is that these handbooks have significant legal implications. For starters, courts view them as an extension of the employment contract. Handbooks also document policies and procedures that must comply with state and federal law, should not contradict other organizational materials, and the organization is bound to follow.
Much like an employment contract or a participant agreement, the finer details of a staff handbook are out of site and out of mind until a dispute arises, at which point the handbook becomes very relevant. The problematic legal consequences of a poorly-written staff handbook often come as a complete surprise only after a dispute arises.
Let’s consider the following common example: An employment contract states that a staff member is at-will, which means the employer can terminate the staff member's employment for any lawful reason with or without notice. In contrast, the staff handbook states that a staff member is only terminated following a specific series of steps, such as a preliminary conversation followed by a written corrective action plan. If an employee is let go and the procedures in the handbook weren’t followed, then it could open the door for a wrongful termination claim, despite the employment contract.
As another example, let's say a participant sues an organization for a personal injury. The first question is whether the organization followed its own procedures, which are often documented in the staff handbook. A close second is whether those procedures comply with state regulations and industry best practices. If the answer to either question is no, then the court has evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the employer.
For the camp audience, the American Camp Association website has a list of state by state camp regulations: ACA List of State Camp Regulations. For the school audience, FindLaw has a list of state by state school regulations: FindLaw List of State School Regulations.
Handbooks should be written so they don't create unintended legal obligations, and they should reflect actual employer practices, rather than aspirational policies. Handbooks also need to comply with state and federal employment laws. Relevant federal laws include the anti-discrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the leave protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act (both of which apply based on the size of an employer). State laws often dictate payroll practices, minimum wage and overtime requirements, leave rules, harassment policies, and many other important matters.
These areas are usually covered in a staff handbook, and they are potential landmines for employers if they don't comply with the law. Organizations commonly treat their employment contracts and participation agreements as the legal documents they are, but they treat staff handbooks as an internal document without legal significance.
As I hope this post makes clear, staff handbooks should be approached with the same care as other key legal documents within the organization.