employee_handbook_writing v1.0.0

name: "employee_handbook_writing" description: "Write or revise an employee handbook in plain language: run a policy inventory, sort each rule into the handbook, a separate signed agreement, a plan document, or a manager procedure, draft policies employees can act on the first read, flag state law checks per work location, and run an update routine when policies change. Use when asked to write, draft, revise, shorten, or audit an employee handbook, staff manual, or company policies document."

Employee Handbook Writing

Purpose

Build a handbook employees actually read and can act on, one that does not quietly become a contract the company never meant to sign. The method has four parts: inventory every rule before writing, put each rule in the right document, write in plain language, and keep the result current with a dated update routine. It follows SHRM handbook structure, the Federal Plain Language Guidelines, US Department of Labor notice practice, and the NLRB Stericycle standard for work rules.

This skill produces a draft and a review record. It is not legal advice, and the final draft still needs review by qualified employment counsel for the locations involved.

Workflow

1. Set the scope before writing a word. Record: company name, every work location including remote staff by state, headcount range, union or no union, exempt and nonexempt mix, and whether a handbook exists now. Locations drive the state law check, so a missing location is a missing policy.

1. Run the policy inventory. Follow references/policy-inventory.md. List every rule the company already lives by, from offer letters, old handbooks, pay practice, benefit plans, and manager habits. Sort each rule into one home: handbook, separate signed agreement, plan document, or manager procedure. Drafting starts only when every rule has a home and a named owner.

1. Build the skeleton from the inventory. Front matter first: welcome, purpose, at-will statement, not-a-contract disclaimer, right to revise, and who can change at-will status and how. Then equal treatment and complaint routes, pay and timekeeping, time off and leave, safety, conduct and discipline, and end of employment. Close with the acknowledgment form. Use the core inventory in references/policy-inventory.md as the starting list and cut what the company does not do.

1. Keep the handbook from becoming a contract. State at-will three times: front disclaimer, its own section, and the signed acknowledgment. Keep promise words out: no guarantee, no permanent employee, no job security, no discharge only for listed causes. Describe discipline as a range the company may enter at any point, with an explicit right to skip steps. Put binding terms in separate signed agreements, because a handbook that disclaims being a contract weakens binding clauses placed inside it. Call out Montana: it is the only state where employment is not at-will by default, and its Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act requires good cause after a probationary period.

1. Write each policy in plain language. Follow references/plain-language-examples.md. One policy answers three questions: what do I do, by when, and who do I ask. Short sentences, active voice, a named actor, "you" for the employee and "we" for the company. Define any legal term that has to stay. Summarize benefits in two or three sentences and point to the plan document, which controls on conflict.

1. Narrow every broad rule and add the rights carve-out. Under Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023), a work rule is judged by whether an employee who depends on the job could reasonably read it as barring activity with coworkers to improve working conditions. So confidentiality, social media, conduct, and solicitation rules each carry a plain carve-out stating that nothing in the policy bars discussing wages, hours, or working conditions with coworkers. Write each rule as narrowly as the real business interest allows, and name that interest in the working notes.

1. Include the federal notices that belong in a handbook. A covered employer with eligible employees must give the Family and Medical Leave Act general notice, and the US Department of Labor lists the handbook as one accepted place for it. Add the FMLA summary with eligibility in plain words, plus the equal opportunity policy and a complaint route that covers more than harassment.

1. Run the state law check. Work through references/state-law-flags.md for every location from step 1: final pay, paid time off payout, paid sick leave, paid family leave programs, breaks, pay frequency, personnel file access, noncompete limits, drug testing, pay transparency, and layoff notice. Record the source and check date for each flag. Where locations differ, choose state supplements or one strictest rule, and say which. No draft ships with an open flag.

1. Audit the draft. Run the bundled tool on the draft text: python3 scripts/handbook_audit.py HANDBOOK.md It checks section coverage, contract-risk wording, a missing protected-activity carve-out, legalese, and sentence length, and exits 1 on any critical finding. Then run the four review passes in references/review-checklists.md: contract and disclaimer, rights and narrow tailoring, plain language with a read-aloud test, and currency and ownership.

1. Publish and maintain. Put a version number and effective date on the handbook and the acknowledgment, collect signed or electronic acknowledgments, archive the prior version, and brief managers on what changed. Follow the update routine in references/review-checklists.md whenever a policy changes or a law changes, and at least once a year: owner drafts, passes re-run on changed sections, material changes get a fresh acknowledgment, and a 30-day spot-check confirms staff can say back what the new rule asks of them.

Output Contract

Deliver:

• The handbook draft, organized by the skeleton in step 3, with version number and effective date.
• The policy inventory table: rule, home, owner, source, state-law flag.
• The state law check sheet: one closed entry per flag per location, with source and date checked.
• The audit output from scripts/handbook_audit.py, with every critical finding fixed or explained.
• The four-pass review record from references/review-checklists.md, plus the name and date of the counsel review still needed or completed.
• A change log with one line per change: date, section, what changed, who approved it.

Operating Rules

• Inventory before prose. A handbook written from a template without the company's real rules teaches staff a company that does not exist. The inventory is the work, the prose is the easy part.
• Right document for each rule. Guidance goes in the handbook, binding promises go in separate signed agreements, benefit detail goes in plan documents, and supervisor-only steps go in manager procedures. Mixing them weakens all four.
• Plain language is a legal control, not a style choice. A rule an employee could read two ways gets read the risky way: by a court on implied contract, and by the NLRB from the view of an employee weighing protected activity. Clear writing is how both risks drop.
• Never copy a policy from another company or a template without the location check. Pay, leave, break, and final pay rules are location rules. An unchecked copied policy is a wrong policy with good formatting.
• Numbers and legal claims need a source. State only what a primary source or counsel confirms for that location and date. Where sources conflict or a rule is in flux, flag it for counsel instead of picking the answer that reads best.
• Practice must match paper. If managers do not follow the written complaint route, timekeeping rule, or discipline range, fix the practice or rewrite the rule before publishing. An ignored handbook hurts more than a short honest one.
• No silent updates. Every change gets a version bump, a change log line, and, when it adds a duty or a restriction, a fresh acknowledgment. Staff should never learn a rule changed from a dispute.