An Ounce of Prevention: Policies, Procedures and Proactivity (Series: HR, Talent Management & Employment Law Boot Camp)

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Practical and entertaining education for
attorneys, accountants, business owners
and executives, and investors.
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DISCLAIMER
The material in this webinar is for informational purposes only. It should not be
considered legal, financial or other professional advice. You should consult with an
attorney or other appropriate professional to determine what may be best for your
individual needs. While Financial Poise™ takes reasonable steps to ensure the information
it publishes is accurate, Financial Poise™ makes no guaranty in this regard.
About this PowerPoint: if you are looking at this PowerPoint without the benefit of
listening to the conversation that surrounded it then you are doing yourself a disservice.
This PowerPoint was prepared in contemplation of being viewed in conjunction with
listening to a one hour webinar on the topic
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MEET THE FACULTY
Moderator:
Charles Krugel – Labor & Employment Law on Behalf of Business
Panelists:
Jason Klimpl – Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP
Matthew Schiff – Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP
Jordan Schwartz – Conn Maciel Carey LLP
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ABOUT THIS WEBINAR:
An Ounce of Prevention: Policies,
Procedures and Proactivity
Kicking the can down the road is rarely a good idea, particularly when it comes to spending the time (and
money) to develop a set of policies and procedures that will cover your workplace. While downloading
handbook from the internet for a nominal fee, may sound like a good idea, you generally get what you pay
for as one-size-fits-all solutions are rarely as effective as solutions tailored to your needs. What makes the
most sense for your organization? What policies are must-haves? What are the latest best practices when
it comes to employee handbooks? What about training your staff and your managers? This webinar
presents practical advice for employers looking to put themselves in the best position possible to not only
defend against employment-related claims but—hopefully—to help avoid them in the first place.
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ABOUT THIS SERIES: HR, Talent
Management & Employment Law Boot Camp
If you have employees or advise companies with employees, this webinar series is for you! No
employer—whether large, medium or small—is immune from the reach of federal, state and/or local
employment laws and regulations. Now, more than ever, employers should consider taking a
proactive approach to auditing their employment practices and policies so that they can better
respond when issues arise. This webinar series approaches the employer-employee relationship
from beginning to end, with programs covering the most important steps along the way, including
hiring and onboarding, policy and procedure development and training, wage and hour compliance,
accommodating disabled employees, conducting investigations and considerations associated with
ending the relationship.
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EPISODES IN THIS SERIES
4/3/19 Episode #1: Welcome to the Team! Recruiting and Hiring, Including Restrictive
Covenants
5/8/19 Episode #2: An Ounce of Prevention: Policies, Procedures and Proactivity
6/5/19 Episode #3: Show Them the Money: Wage & Hour Compliance
7/10/19 Episode #4: Time for a Break: Managing Leaves of Absence and Accommodating
Disabilities
8/7/19 Episode #5: Know What You Did Last Summer: Workplace Investigations
9/4/19 Episode #6: It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye: Minimizing Risk When Terminating
Employees
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Dates shown are premiere dates.
All webinars will be available
On Demand approximately 4 weeks
after they premiere.

Episode #2:
An Ounce of Prevention: Policies,
Procedures and Proactivity
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THE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
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DEVELOPING AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
• Create/update existing policies
• Determine needs/goals
• Draft outline of handbook content
• Create summary of each policy and procedure
• Insert summaries into outline and review overall handbook
• Submit for legal review
• Distribute to employees and perform periodic updates
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THE EMPLOYMENT HANDBOOK: LEGAL
COMPLIANCE
• The employment handbook must comply with all relevant laws:
✓ Anti-discrimination/harassment and related civil rights statutes
✓ National Labor Relations Act
✓ Family and Medical Leave Act
✓ State and local laws and regulations
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WHAT SHOULD A GOOD HANDBOOK
INCLUDE?
• Disclaimer
• Anti-Discrimination/Harassment Policies
• Compensation and Benefits
• Work Schedules
• Standards of Conduct
• Safety and Security
• Computers and Technology
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• Leave Policies
• Acknowledgement of Receipt

CONFIDENTIALITY/INFORMATION
SECURITY AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
STATEMENTS
• These are not a requirement, but some companies may choose to include a
statement to protect company trademarks or industry secrets.
• May be used to support restrictive covenants in litigation
• The handbook should outline the specific information regarding the policy so
that all employees are aware of the agreement.
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ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICIES
• The handbook should confirm that the employer does not discriminate against
applicants/employees on the basis of their:
• Race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, national origin, or any other
basis protected by federal, state or local law.
• The handbook should include an internal complaint procedure and process for
resolving complaints.
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COMPENSATION
• The handbook should provide information on deductions for federal and state
taxes, and the benefits plan. It should also include information on:
✓ Employee classifications
✓ Pay schedules
✓ Employee reviews
✓ Breaks (length, paid?)
✓ Recording of employee time
✓ Overtime
✓ Expense reimbursement
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WORK SCHEDULES
• Is there a set schedule for employees?
• Flexible schedule with possibility of remote work.
• Holidays
• Part-time/full-time designation
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STANDARDS OF CONDUCT
• The handbook should document information regarding employee standards,
such as:
✓ Dress code
✓ Code of conduct-what is permissible/what is not
✓ Progressive discipline/zero tolerance
✓ Attendance
✓ Drugs/Alcohol-will the employer require testing?
✓ Confidential information
✓ Use of company property
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SAFETY AND SECURITY
• In order to help foster a safe work environment, the handbook should include:
✓ Procedures for reporting an accident
✓ Information for dealing with weather-related emergencies
✓ Procedures for addressing health (physical and mental) crises
✓ Policy against workplace violence
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COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY
• The handbook should outline:
✓ Guidelines on appropriate use of employer’s computer/network/internet
✓ Confirm that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy
✓ Social media expectations
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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
• This section should provide information regarding mandatory and optional
benefits, for example:
✓ Medical, dental, vision
✓ Flexible spending accounts
✓ Workers compensation
✓ 401(k)
✓ EAP
✓ Insurance
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✓ Bonuses
✓ COBRA

LEAVE POLICIES
• The employer’s policies regarding leave should be outlined in this section of the
handbook.
✓ Vacation days
✓ Sick days
✓ Personal days
✓ Jury duty
✓ Family medical leave
✓ Military leave
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✓ Bereavement
✓ Policies must be documented and must comply with
federal and state laws

TERMINATION
• Voluntary/Involuntary
• Exit interview
• Final paycheck
• Return of company property
• References
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
• Affirms at-will employment
• Recognizes Company’s right to add, delete or modify policies
• Commits to adhere to policies
• Employee must acknowledge after each revision
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EMPLOYMENT POLICIES
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THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYMENT
POLICIES
• Communicate organizational values and expectations
• Maintain legislative compliance and protection against employment claims
• Document and implement relevant organizational best practices
• Promote consistent treatment of staff, fairness and transparency
• Help management to make decisions that are consistent, uniform and
predictable
• Provides individuals/organization with clear guidelines
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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POLICY AND
PROCEDURE
• A policy is a formal statement of a principle or rule that members of an
organization must follow.
✓ Each policy addresses an issue important to the organization's mission or
operations.
• A procedure tells members of the organization how to carry out or implement a
policy.
➢ Policy is the "what" and the procedure is the "how to.”
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EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND ROUTINE
AUDITS
• Employment policies should be routinely audited to ensure compliance with the
law. Specifically:
✓ Policies against discrimination and harassment
✓ Supervisory training policies
✓ Employee evaluation forms and method of determining merit pay
✓ Review ADA compliance (post expiration of FMLA leave)
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EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND ROUTINE
AUDITS (cont’d)
• Review methods for employees to voice concerns.
• Review harassment investigation protocol.
• Review protocol on discrimination charges or other legal proceedings and
related document retention and “electronically stored information” practices
and procedures.
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EMPLOYEE TRAINING
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PURPOSES OF EMPLOYMENT TRAINING
• Employment training:
✓ Educates workers about the effective use of technology
✓ Ensures competitive edge in the market
✓ Promotes safety and health among employees
✓ Creates opportunities for career development and personal growth, an
important factor in retaining workers
✓ Helps employers comply with laws and regulations, and
✓ Improves productivity and profitability
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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
OPTIONS
• Job specific training - training and development that increases employee skills
and abilities to meet the requirements of their position
• Career development - training and development that build employee
competencies
• Educational development - courses through an accredited/certified/licensed
educational institution
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ON THE JOB TRAINING / DEVELOPMENT
• On-the-job training and development includes activities such as:
✓ Peer or supervisor coaching on particular job-related skills
✓ Mentoring, with an internal or external mentor on job and career related
skills and abilities
✓ Job rotation
✓ Job shadowing
✓ Cross training
✓ "Acting" responsibilities when superiors are away
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FORMAL TRAINING
• Formal training includes professional development programs, such as:
✓ Classroom training
✓ Online training
✓ Video training
✓ Conferences and seminars
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MANAGER TRAINING
• Ensure they understand expectations and obligations of compliance with EEO
policies
• Explain potential for individual liability
• Teach them to spot issues
• Make sure they know what to do when they see something or receive a complaint
NOTE: If an employee proves in court that a supervisor or manager did
discriminate, harass, or retaliate against them, an employer can protect itself by
showing that it provided that supervisor with the proper training so that they knew
their actions were in direct violation of company policy.
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ABOUT THE FACULTY
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Charles Krugel – cak1@charlesakrugel.com
As a management side labor & employment attorney & human resources (HR) counselor,
Charles Krugel, www.charlesakrugel.com, has 24 years of experience in the field & has been
running his own practice for 18 years. His clients are small to medium sized companies in a
variety of industries. Charles has been lead negotiator for hundreds of labor & employment
agreements & contracts. Additionally, he’s litigated dozens of court cases, administrative
proceedings & arbitrations. In addition to providing traditional labor & employment law
services, he represents companies desiring to institute preventive & proactive HR functions.
These functions include policies & procedures, which help to efficiently & discreetly resolve
issues in-house & prevent lawsuits & complaints; they also help to reduce costs & act as
catalysts for increasing productivity & profits. Moreover, he’s frequently the subject labor &
employment law related TV, radio & print interviews.
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Jason Klimpl – klimpl@thsh.com
Jason B. Klimpl is a partner in the Employment Law Group of Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt
LLP. In this capacity, he advises clients on a broad range of employment law matters, such as wage and hour
compliance; healthcare; equal opportunity actions and policies; employment agreements and restrictive
covenants; independent contractor and consulting issues, reductions in force; technology and privacy
concerns; and other human resources counseling.
Jason is also the Associate General Counsel of the New York Staffing Association, and is heavily involved in
legal and legislative efforts to support the staffing industry.
Jason has written numerous employment law articles and is a contributing faculty member of both Lawline
and the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education. Jason is also a member of the Manhattan Chamber
of Commerce’s Speakers Bureau and Help Desk.
-Awarded Martindale‐Hubbell “Preeminent” peer review rating; Named 2013 ‐2017 New York Super Lawyer
(Rising Star); Finally, the New York Enterprise Report named Jason the winner of the 2012 Best Attorneys and
Accountants “Rising Star Attorney” category.
Follow Jason on Twitter: @HR_Attorney
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Matt Schiff – mschiff@sfgh.com
Matthew B. Schiff leads the Labor & Employment group at Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger
LLP. Matt represents management in defense of claims of discrimination retaliation,
harassment, workers’ compensation and employment torts. He counsels clients in all aspects
of employment and labor relations.
Matt is an experienced litigator who has tried many cases and argued appeals of workers’
compensation and related matters. He also counsels and litigates wage and hour disputes and
assists his clients in protecting their trade secrets and enforcing non-compete and non-
solicitation agreements.
Matt has tried numerous jury and nonjury cases on behalf of employers before state and federal
courts and agencies on behalf of public and private sector clients.
Matt assists his clients in developing employee handbooks and contracts. He negotiates
collective bargaining agreements and helps his clients with contract administration.
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Jordan Schwartz – jschwartz@connmaciel.com
Jordan B. Schwartz is a partner in Conn Maciel Carey's Washington, DC office.
Mr. Schwartz advises employers on a wide range of complex employment-related
issues and advises properties regarding all aspects of compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He defends employers against claims of
discrimination and harassment, misappropriation of trade secrets, and wage and
hour violations. He also counsels employers on all aspects of the employer-
employee relationship.
To read more about Jordan Schwartz, please visit:
https://www.financialpoise.com/financialpoisewebinars/faculty/jordan-schwartz/
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QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
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IMPORTANT NOTE: The material in this presentation is for general educational purposes only. It has been prepared primarily
for attorneys and accountants for use in the pursuit of their continuing legal education and continuing professional education.
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ABOUT FINANCIAL POISE
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business owners and executives, and investors. Its
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An Ounce of Prevention: Policies, Procedures and Proactivity (Series: HR, Talent Management & Employment Law Boot Camp)

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