Handbooks and Documentation: Your First Line of Defense With Employment Law Expert Jake Sitman (#47)

Employee handbooks with clear policies that protect your business from legal risks and retaliation claims and are compliant with employment laws can be useful tools for HR. But if it's been a while since you updated your handbook, you need to listen closely to our next guest, Jake Sitman, Chair of the Employment Law and Labor Relations Group for the law firm Fitzpatrick, Lentz, and Bubba. He’ll share his insights on writing and maintaining an effective employee handbook.

Highlights

[3:01] The greatest risk for employers today

[5:17] Understanding retaliation

[8:41] The common mistake employers make

[11:42] Remote work and risk

[18:01] Harassment policy mistakes

[22:17] Where to start with reviewing your handbook

[25:52] Avoiding overly detailed handbooks

[29:46] The impact of company culture on your handbook

[33:06] Handbook best practices for HR

[36:50] The risk of having little or no documentation

Guest Bio

Jake Sitman, Chair of the Employment Law and Labor Relations Group, Fitzpatrick, Lentz and Bubba

Jake Sitman is one of Pennsylvania's leading labor and employment law attorneys, a skilled litigator who often represents employers in federal and state courts in defense of discrimination, harassment, whistleblower and wrongful discharge claims. Jake also counsels and trains business owners, executives, and HR managers in ways to reduce legal risk and how to make smart, strategic, and cost-effective personnel-related decisions. He is an author and a frequent speaker on labor and employment law topics for various chambers of commerce and industry trade groups.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-sitman-5392879/

https://www.flblaw.com/

https://www.hrmorning.com/articles/the-employee-handbook/

https://www.hrmorning.com/news/dol-report-flsa-mistakes-2023/

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