New Year, New Handbook

Employers should consider ringing in the 2024 New Year with revised employee handbooks. An up-to-date handbook is a helpful way to mitigate and, in some cases, prevent costly litigation. Outdated handbooks, on the other hand, run a high risk of not complying with various rules and laws, and can even be marked as "Exhibit A" in court proceedings.

For instance, in Ferguson v. Smith,¹ the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon denied the defendant-employer's motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff-employees' Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA")² claim because there was a genuine dispute of material fact regarding the employer's pay policy. The employees claimed their employer failed to pay them on their "regular payday" and, therefore, violated the FLSA when their employer did not pay them in accordance with the handbook's pay policy. The employer's pay policy reflected in its handbook was inconsistent with its actual payment practices—and was so for many