Legal Question in Employment Law in New York
Employee manuals, binding or hogwash?
In my place of employment they have a very detailed employee manual relating policy and procedures for all non union employees. They have a decentralized system which means that the supervisors have it in their descretion to follow or not to follow policy. My question is "Can they allow this to happen? Are employee manuals binding or are they just hog wash?"
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Employee manuals, binding or hogwash?
After Weiner v. McGraw Hill (no relation) companies scrambled to put disclaimers into their employee manuals; then later case law in the Court of Appeals finished the job. Today there is virtually no ability to use an employee manual as a contract, though in some instances, if you took the job specifically relying on guarantees in the employee manual, you might be able to assert it.
As I have pointed out before, Employment at Will is the pernicious cancer gnawing at employee rights. Lawyers and the current state of the law are a poor substitute for real innoculation, which can only come from the Legislature.
Harold M. Weiner
Coles & Weiner, P.C.
342 MADISON AVENUE SUITE 1800
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
