Distribution of Employee Handbooks

New employees. ACSI suggests that the first page of your employee handbook be a page that is removed at the time a new employee receives the handbook. That page should contain a statement similar to the one shown below. 

Handbook Acknowledgment Receipt

(New Employees) I received a copy of ______________________ School’s Employee Handbook on ______________ (date). I understand and agree that its provisions do NOT create an employment contract.
Signature: ________________________________

(New employees sign this paragraph at a later date.) I have had the opportunity to carefully read the Employee Handbook and have received an opportunity from the school administrator to discuss its contents and to ask questions about any portion that I may not understand or about which I may have questions. This meeting took place on ____________ (date) at the school office. I am prepared to follow the instructions of the handbook. 
Employee signature: ________________________________
Administrator’s signature: ________________________________

(Returning Employees) I received a copy of ______________________ School’s Employee Handbook on ______________ (date). I understand and am prepared to follow its instructions. I reaffirm that its provisions do NOT create an employment contract. 
Signature: ________________________________

Be sure to file the signed handbook statements in the employees’ personnel files. The signed statement could be very valuable to your school’s attorney if there is ever an employment problem or a legal problem later regarding violation of school policies. 

When giving an employee handbook to a new employee, be sure to tell the employee that you are setting up a meeting for a week from the date the employee received the handbook so that he or she can ask any questions regarding the handbook. If you have several employees who are new, you can schedule an after-school time to meet with them all at once. At the meeting, ask whether there are any questions about the policies and the requirements that are in the employee handbook. Take the time to answer each question. Reaffirm at the end of the meeting that everyone understands the handbook’s contents and that everyone is prepared to follow the requirements and the policies. At the end of the meeting, hand back the Handbook Acknowledgement Receipts and have the new employees sign the second section. The administrator should also sign the acknowledgement at that time before refiling the forms in the personnel files. 

Returning employees. It is a good idea to issue a new employee handbook every year to your school staff and to include in that handbook any changes in school policy. Also be sure to clearly date the front cover and the inside of the handbook! Take time during an employee orientation period to explain to all employees the various changes that have been made to the handbook since the previous school year. Then collect the front-page acknowledgements after the returning employees have signed the bottom paragraph. If your school does not issue new handbooks that frequently, be sure to give employees new or updated pages to insert in their employee handbooks if there are changes made for the new school year. Once again, it is important to obtain signed statements that the employees have received the updates to the employee handbook, even if just a few pages are issued to them to insert into an existing handbook. New or updated pages should be dated at the bottom or the top so that people will know that the pages were added later and when the additions took place. 

Vol. 18.3