Rules you don't want to make - personnel policies

Nation's Business, August, 1993 by Edgar S. Ellman

Good personnel policies help attract and retain good employees. They also reduce costly turnover and minimize suits alleging violations of labor laws. And they save valuable time.

Bad policies result in a bevy of headaches, including the loss of good employees and the costs of defending against lawsuits.

A wise executive, striving to operate a well-managed company, should learn to recognize policies that can cause low morale, diminish productivity, and violate federal or state labor laws.

Here are some guidelines on what not to do when setting personnel policies, whether written in an employee handbook or expressed orally:

* Do not try to bar employees from sharing wage or other compensation information with each other on the ground that it is a confidential matter between the company and each worker.

Why have a policy nobody abides by? Moreover, such a prohibition would violate employees' rights to compare wages and other benefits in developing their plans to vote for or against a labor union. Because of such a policy, the National Labor Relations Board once set aside an election that a company had won and allowed the union to organize.

* Do not offer to help employees avoid jury duty.

This type of offer would encourage the shirking of a civic responsibility. Moreover, lying about personal circumstances to avoid jury duty is illegal in every state.

* Do not assert the right to withhold from employees' wages any money they might owe the company for uniforms, damage to equipment, or other charges.

A policy for such withholding would violate labor laws and would have no legal power behind it even if you had advised an employee of it before employment. The only legally safe way to withhold wages is to have the employee sign an agreement to that effect. When an employee incurs a debt to a company, it is best to put the repayment plan in writing. * Do not treat maternity leave differently from other types of disability leave.

For more than 10 years, federal law has prohibited differential treatment of maternity leave. By law, pregnancy must be treated the same as any disability, both for unpaid time off and for insurance coverage. Even so, some state laws grant longer leaves for maternity than for various types of disability.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act, effective Aug. 5 for firms with 50 or more workers, will require those companies to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave upon the birth of an employee's child or the employee's adoption of a child; or to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; or because of an employee's own serious health condition. During the leave, the employee's pre-existing health benefits must be maintained by the employer. (See "Meet The New Law On Family Leave," in the April 1993 Nation's Business.)

* Do not set a blanket prohibition on solicitations on company operating time or premises, and do not require advance management approval for distribution of any type of literature or signature drives.

Any such policy would restrict employees' rights to organize, to petition, and generally to discuss their common circumstances. You must permit solicitation of any kind or for any cause during nonworking time and in non-working areas, and this should include breaks and mealtimes, or in the locker room, lunch room, or the company parking lot.

Soliciting for a cause is not the same as fund-raising for a charity, such as selling cookies or raffle tickets. Such fund-raising should be subject to advance management approval and restricted to nonworking situations.

* Do not use broad statements of disapproval as policy on nontolerance of sexual harassment or racial/ethnic slurs.

Policy in these important areas should be specific. It should state that investigative action will be taken promptly, and that someone other than the supervisor (who might be the target of the harassment charges) may be contacted if the employee wishes.

The policy should also provide detailed guidance on what conduct and comments are not tolerated.

* Do not limit continued health-insurance coverage offered to workers leaving the company to conversion of group insurance to an individual policy.

For companies with 20 or more workers, a limit of this sort would violate provisions of a federal law, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.

The so-called COBRA provisions allow for a period of continued group coverage at group rates for employees and their covered dependents for up to 36 months. COBRA clearly requires that you advise employees and dependents of this right. There are some stiff penalties for failing to do so.

Some states have COBRA-type laws that apply to firms with fewer than 20 workers dismiss one of two employees who marry each other:

Claiming such a right could prompt a sex-discrimination complaint. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has deemed it illegal to discharge an employee whose spouse works for a competitor, and that determination could be invoked in the case of an intracompany marriage. You may make transfers, however, so that married couples do not work together in the same department, and it is legal to have a company policy that bars hiring the spouse of an employee.