Many employers now provide an employment handbook or staff handbook as well as a contract of employment. The employment handbook contains many rights and obligations that apply to the employment relationship that are not ordinarily contained in the contract of employment. It often sets out the employer's procedures and policies in various areas from health and safety to claiming expenses and many employers will obtain a well drafted handbook from their employment solicitor.
The handbook may contain a variety of policies, procedures and general information. They can be contractual or non contractual, so it is a key document when analysing the employment relationship and any employment disputes.
The key sections that are usually of interest when assessing an employment dispute are
- the disciplinary and grievance procedure with any definitions of misconduct
- redundancy procedure
- data protection
For specific cases the sections of interest are
- maternity, paternity and parental leave
- equal opportunities
- bullying and harassment
- whistle blowing
- confidentiality
- use of emails.