employee handbooks

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed. Where does the time go these days? With 2025 upon us, employers have a great opportunity to review their internal labor and employment policies and procedures, which can help prevent potential workplace legal issues in the future. Here are six suggested New Year’s workplace resolutions for a successful 2025.

1. When was the last time your employee handbook was reviewed and updated? Policies and procedures need to be revised periodically to keep current with ongoing changes in the law, especially in a place like New Jersey, where it is frequently the case that additional laws and judicial decisions impose new legal requirements. Therefore, 2025 presents a great opportunity for employers to review handbook policies and bring them up to date with any recent legal changes that impact your workplace, or to reflect changes in your workplace. Alternatively, if you do not have one yet, the upcoming new year provides a wonderful chance for your workplace to reap the benefits of having all relevant workplace policies kept in one collective document. Relatedly, when was the last time you conducted anti-harassment training for your workforce? While the pandemic years made this harder to do, virtual training is a great way to continue to meet all legally mandated employee training requirements, and more and more in person training is happening again.
    
2. When was the last time your job descriptions were reviewed and updated?   Job descriptions are very important, especially in gauging compliance with mandated accommodation requirements for persons with disabilities under both federal and state discrimination laws. Ask yourself: do your job descriptions accurately reflect what an employee actually does in his/her job today?  Because courts often rely on how an employer defines the essential job functions of an employment position in assessing disability discrimination and failure to accommodate issues, it is important that all employers maintain updated job descriptions so there will be a point of reference if any issues arise as to what the essential functions of a job position are for accommodation purposes. Moreover, just like employee handbooks, if you do not have job descriptions today, the beginning of the upcoming year is a good time to commence preparing them.
    
3. Are your employee leave policies up to date?  It is important under both federal and state leave laws that leave policies are accurate and current. One of the most effective ways of meeting this requirement is to have updated leave policies in an employee handbook, so use the beginning of next year to check that such policies are accurate and up to date. 
    
4. When was the last time you conducted an audit of your payroll practices?  One of the chief concerns to examine here is ensuring that all your employees are properly classified as exempt versus non-exempt employees for purposes of their proper compensation under federal and state wage and hour laws. It is always a good idea for an employer to do a quick review of employment classifications each year in case changes need to be made based upon any modifications in employee job responsibilities or legal requirements. Also, as part of such an audit, make sure that you are paying your employees correctly. If eligible for overtime, are you calculating such payments right and using the appropriate rate of pay? Also, are you paying the correct minimum wage to your employees? Remember, the minimum wage in New Jersey goes up automatically each year, reaching $15.49 per hour in 2025. And, finally, how about independent contractors? If you are using them, are you meeting the stringent requirements here in New Jersey for creating those relationships to withstand legal scrutiny? Failure to follow independent contract rules can lead to significant wage and hour problems, and this topic has been a major subject of investigation in recent New Jersey Department of Labor audits in which I have been involved so the issue is being rigorously scrutinized by state officials.
    
5. Are you properly performing background checks on current and prospective employees?  Remember, there are strict requirements concerning how such background checks are conducted under not only the Fair Credit Reporting Act but also under relevant federal employment discrimination laws such as Title VII. Several years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a detailed compliance guidance on how the results of a background check can be utilized in assessing a person’s suitability for employment, and New Jersey also passed its own restrictions, i.e. Ban the Box rules and prohibitions on demanding that employees share information about their confidential social media sites, so it is important that all background check policies meet these requirements. 
    
6. Are your drug testing policies in compliance with the requirements of both of New Jersey’s cannabis use laws, medicinal and recreational?  Take a moment to ensure that your testing policies are in line with the circumstances that an employer can legally require an employee drug screen and know when you can take adverse legal action based upon a positive screen for marijuana use.   

In sum, the new year provides a wonderful opportunity for employers to proactively evaluate internal policies and procedures to make 2025 a legally problem free year in your workplace. Take advantage of the opportunity so your business will not be singing the legal blues in 2025!

It is hard to believe that we are now in the fall and only a few months away from the start of a new year. Where does time go these days? With 2025 nearing, employers are presented with a wonderful opportunity to review internal policies/procedures and hopefully help avoid future workplace legal problems. Here are six suggested New Year’s Workplace Resolutions for a happy 2025.

1. When was the last time your employee handbook was reviewed and updated? Policies and procedures need to be revised periodically to keep current with ongoing changes in the law, especially in a place like New Jersey, where it is frequently the case that additional laws and judicial decisions impose new legal requirements. Therefore, 2025 presents a great opportunity for employers to review handbook policies and bring them up to speed with any recent legal changes that impact your workplace, or to reflect changes in your workplace. Alternatively, if you do not have one yet, the upcoming new year provides a wonderful chance for your workplace to reap the benefits of having all relevant workplace policies stored in one collective document. Relatedly, when was the last time you conducted anti-harassment training for your workforce? While the pandemic years made this harder to do, virtual training is a great way to continue to meet all legally mandated employee training requirements, and more and more in person training is happening again. 
2. When was the last time your job descriptions were reviewed and updated?   Job descriptions are very important, especially in gauging compliance with mandated accommodation requirements for persons with disabilities under both federal and state discrimination laws. Ask yourself: do your job descriptions accurately reflect what an employee actually does in his/her job today?  Because courts often rely on how an employer defines the essential job functions of an employment position in assessing disability discrimination and failure to accommodate issues, it is important that all employers maintain updated job descriptions so there will be a point of reference if any issues arise as to what the essential functions of a job position are for accommodation purposes. Moreover, just like employee handbooks, if you do not have job descriptions today, the beginning of the upcoming year is a good time to commence preparing them.
3. Are your employee leave policies up to date?  It is important under both federal and state leave laws that leave policies are accurate and current. One of the most effective ways of meeting this requirement is to have updated leave policies in an employee handbook, so use the beginning of next year to check that such policies are accurate and up to date. 
4. When was the last time you conducted an audit of your payroll practices?  One of the chief concerns to examine here is ensuring that all your employees are properly classified as exempt versus non-exempt employees for purposes of their proper compensation under federal and state wage and hour laws. It is always a good idea for an employer to do a quick review of employment classifications each year in case changes need to be made based upon any modifications in employee job responsibilities. Also, as part of such an audit, make sure that you are paying your employees correctly. If eligible for overtime, are you calculating such payments right and using the appropriate rate of pay? Also, are you paying the correct minimum wage to your employees? Remember, the minimum wage in New Jersey goes up automatically each year, reaching $15.13 per hour in 2024. And, finally, how about independent contractors? If you are using them, are you meeting the stringent requirements here in New Jersey for creating those relationships to withstand legal scrutiny? Failure to follow independent contract rules can lead to significant wage and hour problems, and this topic has been a major subject of investigation in recent New Jersey Department of Labor audits in which I have been involved.   
5. Are you properly performing background checks on current and prospective employees?  Remember, there are strict requirements concerning how such background checks are conducted under not only the Fair Credit Reporting Act but also under relevant federal employment discrimination laws such as Title VII. Several years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a detailed compliance guidance on how the results of a background check can be utilized in assessing a person’s suitability for employment, and New Jersey also passed its own restrictions, i.e. Ban the Box rules and prohibitions on demanding that employees share information about their confidential social media sites, so it is important that all background check policies meet these requirements. 
6. Are your drug testing policies in compliance with the requirements of both of New Jersey’s cannabis use laws, medicinal and recreational?  Take a moment to ensure that your testing policies are in line with the circumstances that an employer can legally require an employee drug screen and know when you can take adverse legal action based upon a positive screen for marijuana use.   

In sum, the upcoming new year provides a wonderful opportunity for employers to proactively evaluate internal policies and procedures to make 2025 a legally problem free year in your workplace. Take advantage of the opportunity so your business will not be singing the legal blues in 2025! It is never too early to start laying out these goals and the foundation for achieving them.