If an employer chooses to publish a written employee handbook, an acknowledgment-of-receipt form is critical. The employee’s signature on such a form may be used to the employer’s advantage in subsequent litigation or administrative proceedings in numerous ways. It might be used to show simply that an employee received the handbook. It could be used to show that the employee was aware, or should have been aware, of the employer’s policies. Proving this fact may be indispensable in an employment discrimination suit or unemployment compensation case. The signed acknowledgment might also be used to show that an employee understood that his or her employment was at-will in the face of employee claims to the contrary.
The acknowledgment-of-receipt form should be read and signed by each employee upon receipt of the handbook. If the employee would like additional time to review the written policies and procedures, that time should be granted. Once the form is signed and dated, it should be retained in the employee’s personnel file and should not be destroyed until all prospects of adverse legal action by the employee have expired. If subsequent versions of the handbook are published, a new acknowledgment-of-receipt form should be obtained from each current employee.
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