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Employment Handbooks, Policies & Procedures

Our Employment Team are highly experienced in advising employers on all aspects of employee staff handbooks, policies and procedures.

These documents are vital to the smooth running of your operation, ensuring that all employees have a common understanding of company expectations, procedures and values — while also helping your business remain compliant with Irish employment law.

We frequently encounter businesses who have failed to invest appropriately in these areas, and as a result, have inadvertently breached the law. This not only puts employees at risk of injury, overwork, bullying and harassment, but it also places the business at risk of data protection, equality and other types of breaches.

Taking a proactive approach to your staff handbook and internal policies is one of the most effective ways to protect both your workforce and your business.

An employee handbook is a written document outlining company policies, procedures and expectations. It typically includes everything from disciplinary procedures and leave entitlements to workplace conduct and grievance processes.

Employee handbooks play a vital role in communicating company policies and procedures, terms and conditions, and information on leave and benefits. The handbook should be updated regularly, located in a central location and be made available to all employees. In doing so, any updates or revisions can be seen by all staff.

The company vision / mission / ethos
Information on employment records you hold and associated data protection
Company policies and procedures (this may reference separate documents for each policy and procedure), including:
- Disciplinary procedures
- Grievance and dispute procedures
- Bullying and harassment procedures
- Complaints procedures
- Health and safety policies
- Equality policy
- Smoking policy
- Overtime policy
- Social media policy

Employee Handbooks should be written by HR professionals with enough knowledge of all areas of Employment law covered within the documents. They should also update the handbook regularly as the business changes or as legal requirements evolve.

It is also important that the document and its accompanying policies and procedures are tailored to your business operation, not merely a standard publication.

Get Expert Legal Advice on Workplace Policies & Handbooks

Submit your details for a confidential consultation with our Employment Law Team.

Why Choose Lavelle for Employee Handbooks & Policies?

Our Employment Team, headed up by Partner Marc Fitzgibbon, are highly experienced in advising on all aspects of Employee Handbooks, Policies & Procedures over the past 35 years.
Marc is ranked in Band 2 in the latest Chambers and Partners Europe 2024 Guide for Employment: Mainly Plaintiff.
Whether you need legal guidance or a completely new staff handbook, our Employment Team can provide expert assistance.
We understand the need to ensure that staff handbooks, policies and procedures are drafted fully in-line with the law, thereby protecting your business or organisation from the threat of a claim or reputational damage.
As a full-service law firm, client's benefit from our multi-disciplinary offering and our specialist legal expertise across a number of related practice areas including Banking & Finance, Corporate & Commercial and Property.