California Employee Handbook Creator Online Tool - MASTEH
New Features:
- Improved Navigation: A more user-friendly interface and simplified navigation to make creating a handbook even more intuitive.
- Enhanced Support Materials: Upgrades to supplementary resources — such as our How-To Guide, FAQs, and HR Glossary — aid you in crafting comprehensive and compliant employee handbooks.
- An All-New Wizard Planning Guide: A comprehensive guide to help you prepare to answer the Wizard's questions effectively.
Who knew creating an employee handbook could be so easy?
Maintaining a California handbook that complies with state and federal laws helps protect your business and employees. Think of it as a user manual for the workplace.
CalChamber's Employee Handbook Creator online tool guides you through every step of what is usually a complicated HR task. Conveniently access the Windows/Mac-compatible tool from your desktop or tablet.
Through a yearly subscription, use the Employee Handbook Creator to clearly communicate company policies and set expectations — in an employee handbook you create online and then export to print from your own printer.
Access more than 100 policies, including policies that are mandatory, suggested or optional for your company — such as the mandatory paid sick leave policies required by local ordinances or California's mandatory harassment, discrimination and retaliation prevention policy.
Your yearly subscription helps keep your handbook policies up to date. (See Compliance Alert below.)
Renewing your subscription each year at $104.99 (English or Spanish) means you'll continue to receive new and revised policy updates resulting from changes to California and federal employment laws or regulations.
You not only receive email notifications on policy updates throughout your subscription year, but the Employee Handbook Creator makes it simple to revise your handbook online.
Check out CalChamber’s free “Employee Handbooks: A Workplace Essential” white paper.
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"Don’t hesitate to start from scratch. Employee Handbook Creator is easy to use, with precise wording that’s so important these days."
Kat Lotz, CFO Jewel Box Platinum, Inc.
2024 COMPLIANCE ALERT
It's always a best practice to keep your policies up to date with California employment laws.
Policy Update 1/1/2024
Happy New Year! As we head into 2024, we want you to be well-prepared for updating and revising your employee handbook; to help make this process as simple and straightforward as possible, we’ve detailed below the policies that have changed in CalChamber's Employee Handbook Creator based on new laws for 2024. Updated policies include:
- Reproductive Loss Leave (new policy).
- Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation.
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
- Paid Time Off (PTO).
- Sick Leave.
- Berkeley Sick Leave.
- Emeryville Sick Leave.
- Los Angeles Sick Leave.
- Oakland Sick Leave.
- San Diego Sick Leave.
- San Francisco Sick Leave.
- Santa Monica Sick Leave.
Please read these details carefully and update your policies as necessary to ensure your handbook is up to date for the new year.
The new Reproductive Loss Leave policy was created to address a new law that requires covered employers to provide leave to eligible employees who suffer certain defined reproductive loss events.
Prior to 2024, reproductive loss leave wasn’t required under state law. Effective January 1, 2024, however, California employers with five or more employees are required to provide up to five days of leave to eligible employees that experience a reproductive loss event, which includes a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy or an unsuccessful assisted reproductive technology procedure (e.g., artificial insemination or an embryo transfer). The leave may be unpaid, but employees may choose to use accrued paid leave available to them during the leave.
While a policy is not required under the statute, including a Reproductive Loss Leave policy in your handbook is highly recommended; as such, the Employee Handbook Creator labels this policy as “suggested.”
The Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation policy was updated to reflect the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s (FEHA’s) expansion to protect against discrimination on the basis of cannabis/marijuana use off the job and away from the worksite. The law doesn’t, however, permit an employee to possess, be impaired by or use cannabis on the job, and it maintains employers’ rights and obligations in keeping a drug- and alcohol-free workplace.
The Drug and Alcohol Abuse policy was updated to reflect the FEHA’s expansion to protect against discrimination on the basis of cannabis/marijuana use off the job and away from the worksite. The law doesn’t, however, permit an employee to possess, be impaired by or use cannabis on the job, and it maintains employers’ rights and obligations in keeping a drug- and alcohol-free workplace.
The Paid Time Off (PTO) policy was updated to address California’s expansion of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, also known as paid sick leave. Effective January 1, 2024, California law requires employers to provide up to five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, up from three days or 24 hours. The expansion also raises the maximum accrual amount to 10 days or 80 hours.
The Sick Leave policy was updated to address California’s expansion of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, also known as paid sick leave. Effective January 1, 2024, California law requires employers to provide up to five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, up from three days or 24 hours. The expansion also raises the maximum accrual amount to 10 days or 80 hours.
All of the Local Paid Sick Leave policies (Berkeley, Emeryville, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Monica) were updated in response to California’s expansion of paid sick leave requirements.
Prior to 2024, local paid sick leave ordinances surpassed the state paid sick leave requirements in all areas. As such, these policies were crafted in an integrated way that was intended to comply with both laws. With California’s expansion of paid sick leave in 2024, this is no longer the case. There are now numerous differences between the state and local laws, such as maximum accrual caps, annual use limits and amounts of sick leave that can be front loaded. Due to these differences, the local sick leave policies have been revised to address only the requirements of the local ordinances themselves without integrating state law requirements.
These policies’ introductory language has also been revised to inform employees that state and local paid sick leave laws provide largely overlapping sick leave entitlements. When an eligible employee’s need for sick leave arises, to the extent that their parameters and requirements align, state sick leave and the applicable local leave will run simultaneously. And where they differ, the employer will provide the more generous benefit of the two.
For employers that prefer to have one integrated sick leave policy that complies with two or more laws, the “About this Policy” pages have all been updated to note where the state law and local laws differ, and which is more beneficial to employees. With California’s paid sick leave expansion, integrating state and local leave policies is much more complicated than in the past. It is highly recommended that employers review the laws carefully to ensure they comply with all applicable laws and consult with an experienced employment attorney to review their policy. (As a reminder, CalChamber Enterprise Members receive two hours of discounted legal services with their membership.)
Additionally, as a reminder, On October 26, 2023, we updated several policies in CalChamber's Employee Handbook Creator due to a significant decision recently handed down by the National Labor Relations Board. The list of impacted policies is:
- Off Duty Conduct.
- Workplace Privacy.
- Bulletin Boards.
- Electronic and Social Media.
- Off Duty Use of Facilities.
- Prohibited Personal Use of Company Cell Phone.
- Solicitation and Distribution of Literature.
- Conducting Personal Business.
- Confidential Information.
- Conflicts of Interest.
- News and Media.
- Prohibited Cell Phone Use.
- Prohibited Conduct.
Current Subscribers: Please sign in to the Employee Handbook Creator to review the changes. If this update applies to you, we highly recommend that you update your handbook with these changes at your earliest opportunity.