Employee handbooks remain a foundational tool for compliance and communication among employers, particularly as workplace laws continue to evolve. Best practices include reviewing and auditing handbooks at least annually, with additional updates triggered by significant legal or operational changes. Core policies should address wage and hour practices, leave and time-off policies, anti-discrimination and harassment policies, accommodations, workplace safety, technology use, and standards of conduct. Multistate employers benefit from a structured approach that balances a consistent national framework with state-specific addenda to address differing statutory requirements. In preparation for 2026 employment laws, employers should prioritize updates to paid leave and paid sick leave policies, pay transparency and compensation disclosures, workplace accommodation procedures, reproductive health and family benefits, data privacy, and remote or hybrid work guidelines. Careful alignment with federal, state, and local requirements, along with clear, accessible language, helps reduce risk while reinforcing expectations, accountability, and organizational values across the workforce.
Key Takeaways for Employers
- Regularly Schedule Handbook Reviews and Updates.
Set a timeline to review and audit your employee handbook annually or biannually to stay compliant with changing laws and align with company growth. Incorporate periodic check-ins to ensure policies remain relevant and reflect best practices. - Plan Strategically for Multistate Operations.
Use a consistent core handbook supported by state-specific addenda. California, New York, New Jersey, and Washington require heightened attention due to evolving paid leave laws, pay transparency rules, predictive scheduling, and employee notice obligations. - Reflect New Legal Developments in 2026 Employment Policies.
Update handbook policies to reflect current developments such as wage and hour regulations, expanded paid sick leave requirements, and employee rights, including transparency around AI use in hiring decisions. Pay special attention to emerging trends in workplace accommodation and remote work practices. - Address Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Policies.
Strengthen employee data privacy and cybersecurity protocols, including acceptable use of company devices, employee monitoring, and protection of personal data, especially if handling sensitive health information. - Clarify Policies on Workplace Monitoring and AI Transparency.
Employees increasingly expect transparency around workplace monitoring. Clearly define what tools are used, the extent of oversight, and adherence to state laws like those governing AI in employment practices. - Distribute and Acknowledge Handbook Updates to Reinforce Accountability.
Upon updating your handbook, ensure distribution to all employees in written or digital form and require acknowledgments to confirm receipt and understanding. Use this as an opportunity to reinforce the handbook as an ongoing resource essential to workplace operations.
SHRM Resources
- How to Develop an Employee Handbook
- Should employees be required to sign an acknowledgment form for the employee handbook? What if an employee refuses?
- What is the difference between employee handbooks and policies and procedures manuals?
- Your Employee Handbook for 2026: Make It Alive, Not Antiquated
- How to Get Your Workforce to Actually Read the Employee Handbook
- Employee Handbook Revision Season Is Here
- State & Local Updates
- Podcast: Building a Better Employee Handbook (Honest HR)
- For Purchase: SHRM Employee Handbook Builder (EHB)
- Sample: Employee Handbook Receipt Acknowledgment
- Express Requests: State Law Developments
Law Firm Articles
Some policies are legally required, while some have specific processes or language that must be used. Working with a lawyer to assist you with these specifics will help you avoid legal pitfalls.
If you have employees in multiple states, legal can help flag potential state issues.
If you have a unionized workforce, legal will help you align your policies with the collective bargaining agreement.
Take Time to Update Your Handbook | Bradley
Third, given the passage of SB 648, amending Labor Code section 351, which empowers the state labor commissioner to investigate and issue citations and fines for tip theft, we recommend ensuring all tip policies and pools are clear and in writing. Handbook policies should clarify that tips left by patrons (including credit-card tips) are the sole property of the employee, that the employer or its managers may not deduct credit-card processing fees or take any portion of the tips, and that tips paid via credit card must be paid to the employee no later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the payment.
Three CA Handbook Updates for 2026 | Fox Rothschild
Trapped at Work Act: Effective December 19, 2025, employers cannot require employees to repay training costs or impose penalties for leaving a job within a set period of time. The law targets abusive training reimbursement clauses that effectively lock low-wage workers into jobs. Legitimate repayment agreements – such as for wage advances – are allowed.
New Laws for New York Employers in the New Year: What to Know as 2026 Unfolds |Fisher Phillips
The Stericycle standard remains a high bar for employers. Any rule that could potentially be read to discourage protected concerted activity may be struck down unless the employer can prove it is necessary and narrowly written. Employers should continue reviewing and updating workplace policies with this framework in mind.
Employers Still Need to Follow NLRB’s Strict Handbook Rules – For Now | Fisher Phillips
After operating without a quorum for much of 2025, the EEOC begins 2026 with a Republican-led majority and a renewed focus on its Strategic Enforcement Plan. Expect aggressive action on:
- Religious and national origin accommodations claims
- DEI-related discrimination, and
- Pregnancy accommodations claims
Employers should review all employee policies for compliance with Title VII and anticipate new technical guidance and litigation initiatives targeting workplace discrimination.
Six Employment Law Trends to Watch in 2026: Federal Enforcement and Virginia Updates | Bean Kinney
Many states and major localities have published new minimum wage rates taking effect on January 1, 2026. Multistate employers should confirm rate files, posting updates, and downstream effects on salary-threshold peg points, shift differentials, and collective bargaining agreements.
Top 2025 Employment Law Changes Employers Must Know for 2026 | Darrow Everett
Family and Medical
New York’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program has announced updates for 2026, including increases in the maximum weekly PFL benefit amount and the employee contribution rate, effective January 1, 2026.
New York City Paid Sick Leave— Int. No. 0780-2024
In October 2025, New York City enacted amendments to the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) to expand covered reasons to take earned safe and sick time and add a separate bank of thirty-two hours of unpaid earned safe and sick time in addition to the forty or fifty-six hours already provided under the ESSTA. The law took effect on February 22, 2026.
Employer Compliance Watchlist: Key State Laws Effective January 1, 2026 | Ogletree
2026 Employee Handbook Updates: Strategies for the Year Ahead (Webinar Recording) | Seyfarth
Additional Articles & Resources
Another growing trend is state legislation barring employers from requiring employees to attend “captive audience” meetings on religious or political matters. These laws prohibit employers from coercing employees into attending or participating in meetings that are sponsored by the employer and concern the employer’s views on religious or political matters, including union organization. The bans on captive audience meetings generally include exceptions for certain communications that employers are legally required to make.
In 2025, Rhode Island became the latest state to ban mandatory captive audience meetings. As a result, 13 states that have passed legislation allowing employees to opt out of captive audience meetings, including Alaska (effective July 1, 2025), California (effective Jan. 1, 2025, but preliminarily enjoined on Sept. 30, 2025), Connecticut, Hawaii (bans political speech only), Illinois (effective Jan. 1, 2025), Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island (effective July 2, 2025), Vermont and Washington. This trend is likely to not only continue in 2026 and beyond but also grow. Additionally, some states have revised their captive audience bans. For example, effective Dec. 2, 2025, New Jersey amended its captive audience ban to expand the definition of political matters to include views regarding labor unions, among other changes. Specifically, the amendment defines “political matters” as matters related to an electioneering communication and the employee’s decision to join or support any political party or political, civic, community, fraternal, or labor organization or association.
7 Employee Handbook Policies to Review for 2026 | GTM
Employee handbooks should be comprehensive, but concise. Not every workplace issue needs a policy, and a policy doesn’t need to address every possible scenario that might arise. Attempting to fill the employee handbook with every policy and procedure that an employee might need to know will only result in creating a document that is unwieldy and ineffective.
Ideally, an employee handbook should be between 30 and 50 pages. That ensures readability and relevance. Anything longer indicates too many policies (or unnecessary internal procedures) or too much detail. Either way, your employees will get lost in the abyss, which doesn’t serve them or the company.
Crafting Employee Handbooks that Work | Nevada Association of Employers
Employee Handbook (Example) | The George Washington University
Employee Handbook (Example) |New York University
Table of Contents Employee Handbook For A California Company (Example) | Jane Kow & Associates
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