When hiring employees who work in South Dakota, it is important to ensure that your employee handbook adheres to both federal and state-specific employment law. Since South Dakota employment law may differ significantly from other states where you hire, you must customize your employee handbook to comply with South Dakota employee handbook requirements.
While employers aren’t required to create and distribute employee handbooks, they are required to implement and comply with a variety of policies in the workplace. An employee handbook offers significant benefits. Employee handbooks serve as a means to introduce the company, establish expectations, explain essential policies and procedures, and reduce legal risk. If you choose to create employee handbooks, failing to comply with South Dakota and federal employment laws in your handbook could subject your company to substantial legal risk.
To simplify the process, SixFifty’s Employment Docs empowers employers to quickly and cost-effectively generate custom, state-specific employment handbooks.
Here’s what employers should know about creating their own South Dakota employee handbooks.
Required South Dakota employee handbook policies
South Dakota requires employers to implement and comply with five state-specific policies:
- Business Expense Reimbursement
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Jury Duty Leave
- Political Activity Leave
- Voting Leave
These policies must be included in every South Dakota employee handbook, regardless of company, industry, and other factors.
Optional South Dakota employee handbook policies
In addition to the five required South Dakota employee handbook policies, employers are free to add optional policies like these:
- Affinity Group Policy
- Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy
- Arbitration Policy
- At-Will Employment Policy
- Background Check Policy
- COBRA Policy
- Cell Phone Policy
- Code of Conduct Policy
- Company Property Policy
- Confidentiality and Trade Secrets Policy
- Desk Hoteling Policy
- Direct Deposit Policy
- Dress Code Policy
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Policy
- Electronic Devices While Driving Policy
- Employee Benefits Policy
- Employee Classification Policy
- Employee Dating Policy
- Employee References Policy
- Employment of Relatives Policy
- Exit Interview Policy
- Gifts Policy
- Health and Safety Policy
- Home Office Reimbursement Policy
- Job Duties Policy
- Key or Access Card Policy
- Holidays
- Immigration Law Compliance
- Leave Policies, including: Paid Sick Leave; Parental Leave; Bereavement Leave; Organ, Bone Marrow, and Blood Donor Leave; Domestic Violence Leave; Crime Victim Leave; Witness Duty Leave; Civil Service Leave; School Activity Leave
- Cannabis Policy
- Off-Duty Use of Facilities
- Outside Employment Policy
- Overtime Policy
- Payment of Wages Policy
- Payroll Deductions Policy
- Performance Review Policy
- Personnel Files Policy
- Pets in the Workplace Policy
- Progressive Discipline Policy
- Public Relations Policy
- Punctuality and Attendance Policy
- Record Retention Policy
- Remote Working Policy
- Salary Pay Policy
- Smoking Policy
- Social Media Policy
- Solicitation and Distribution of Literature Policy
- Technology Systems Policy
- Temporary Relocation Policy
- Timekeeping Policy
- Vacation/Paid Time Off
- Video Conferencing Policy
- Weapons in the Workplace
- Workers’ Compensation Policy
- Workplace Violence Policy
- Workplace Visitor Policy
- Workweek and Work Schedules Policy
Not all of the optional policies will be appropriate for your workplace and workforce, depending on your company and industry type, size, employment type, and other factors.
Required federal employee handbook policies
If you choose to create an employee handbook, you should include these policies that are required by federal employment law:
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (15+ Employees)
- Employment and Anti-Discrimination Policy
- Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Policy (50 Employees)
- Jury Duty Leave
- Military Service Leave
- Sexual Harassment Policy
- Lactation Accommodation Policy
- Religious Accommodations Policy
Employers in all 50 states are required to implement these policies, in addition to any that are required by the specific state(s) in which they have employees. Therefore, all of your employee handbooks should contain these federal policies (if your organization meets the 50-employee requirement for the FMLA Policy).
How to create a South Dakota employee handbook
Creating South Dakota state-specific employee handbooks demands meticulous research and drafting—otherwise, you could expose your company to significant risk. Any inadvertent violation of federal or South Dakota state employment laws in your handbooks could lead to legal liability for your company.
To ensure compliance with legal requirements in your state-specific handbooks, you have several options. One approach is to hire an attorney for handbook drafting, ensuring compliance with regulations. However, when hiring employees in multiple states, billable hours can quickly add up.
Some companies may consider using one-size-fits-all online templates. This approach is not advisable, as there’s no guarantee that the templates will include all the required state-specific policies and language.
At SixFifty, we understand the challenges associated with drafting employee handbooks. Our employee handbook creator ensures that your company is compliant with all federal, state, and local laws. It’s easier than ever to create and update handbooks as needed. It’s designed to support employers through every stage of the employment life cycle, starting from offer letters and continuing through termination and offboarding.
Creating top-tier South Dakota employee handbooks that meet all requirements has never been easier. Best of all, our legal team closely monitors any developments in employment law nationwide. Should any changes arise, we’ll promptly notify you, so you can regenerate your documents accordingly.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo today!
Looking to create an employee handbook for a different state? View our interactive map for required employee handbook policies by state.
