Multistate employers often face the difficult task of finding the most effective way to prepare their handbooks while ensuring compliance not only with federal law, but also with the applicable state, local, and even international laws of the jurisdictions in which they operate. As many multistate employers continue to grow and expand their footprints both nationally and internationally, and as remote work becomes more common across industries, this is one of the challenges they are facing, especially where state laws are quickly evolving.

Although employee handbooks are not legally required, employers often use them as a welcome tool to communicate policies, procedures, behavioral expectations, and working conditions to new and existing employees. The handbook is often a document that establishes important policies and information that protects the rights of both employers and employees, and it can be an effective communication tool for employers to meet their legal notice requirements. For multistate employers, this may be challenging to achieve in one comprehensive handbook, as many states and localities frequently have differing laws and requirements—with some constantly changing even before the ink is dry on handbook updates.

All employers may want to consider tailoring their employee handbooks based upon industry, number of employees, union/nonunion status, and whether they are government contractors, public-sector or private-sector employers. Likewise, multistate...

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