Learn about California employee handbook requirements and optional California employee handbook policies, then find out how we take the work out of compliance.
Published: December 1, 2022
Building an employee handbook is a great way to introduce your new hires to the company, set forth your company policies, and provide structure for existing employees. While companies aren’t required to create a handbook, employers are required to notify their employees of certain rights. Most employers choose to do this in state-specific employee handbooks. Here’s an example for a California employee handbook requirements.
Employee handbooks are a smart way to protect your company: they ensure that your employees are notified of all applicable rights, obligations and company policies. If problems arise, you’ll have documentation of your compliance.
When you’re hiring employees in California, your employee handbook should cover all notable state and federal policies. You may also want to include non-required policies that will protect your company. The problem? California has up to 24 unique state and federal policies that should be included. Plus, state and federal laws change all the time, so you’ll need to stay on top of new laws and regulations.
Hiring remotely means that you can gather top talent from all 50 states—but who has the time to research, create, and update employee handbooks every time you hire from a new state?
SixFifty has solutions. Read on to learn about required and optional California employee handbook policies, then find out how we take the work out of compliance.
Federal law supersedes state law. No matter where you’re doing business, federal employee handbook policies must be included. These cover some of the most critical worker rights, including anti-discrimination laws, different types of leave, and how the company will handle sexual harassment.
The required federal employee handbook policies are the same across all 50 states, so you’ll need to include them in every version of your employee handbook. When there’s a change to the law, each state handbook needs to be updated appropriately.
Each of the following policies must be included in your employee handbook:
California offers additional protections to its employees, including paid sick leave, crime victim and domestic violence leave, voting leave and more. These protections make it easier for California employees to take time off work without risking their employment status.
Note that there are also state policies governing health and safety, meal and rest breaks, and outside employment. These policies go further than federal law, and may require you to make adjustments to your overall company policies.
Finally, take note that the paid sick leave policies are unique for Berkeley, Emeryville, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Monica: if you hire employees in those locations, be prepared to create different policies based on those requirements.
Here are California’s required policies:
But wait—there’s more! In addition to the required state and federal policies, there are 46 optional policies you can add to your employee handbook. While not all of these will apply to every company, they can provide structure for employees and protect your business.
For instance, most companies will have a payment, holiday, and dress code policy—but you can also include policies that apply to your specific type of work. Transportation companies may wish to add policies about drugs, alcohol, and using electronic devices while driving. Tech companies may want to add policies about how employees can use company property, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and telecommuting policies.
After your required state and federal policies, you’re invited to add the following:
Researching, adding, and updating these California policies can be onerous—which is why SixFifty wants to make it easier for you and built an employee handbook creator. Our proprietary legal technology pairs automation with real legal expertise, so you can automatically generate and update California employee handbooks. Save time and billable hours: just answer a few questions about your company, download the generated handbook, and have your lawyers approve.
Looking to create an employee handbook for a different state? View our interactive map for required employee handbook policies by state.
In just 2 minutes, see how easy it is to create and maintain Employment legal documents with SixFifty.