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signing that last paper in the handbook

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edwashere

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Iowa
my question is If your hired by a company and they have you read and sign the last page in the employee handbook, how long is that signature good for? If i work for this company then work for a different company and then work again for the first company is that signature still good? or would they have to make me sign a new one everytime i worked for them?
thanks
 


I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
edwashere said:
What is the name of your state? Iowa
my question is If your hired by a company and they have you read and sign the last page in the employee handbook, how long is that signature good for? If i work for this company then work for a different company and then work again for the first company is that signature still good? or would they have to make me sign a new one everytime i worked for them?
thanks

My response:

I don't know. What does the handbook say about it?

IAAL
 
Last edited:

Beth3

Senior Member
Your signature is an acknowledgement that you received a copy of the employee handbook. You can't "unacknowledge" receipt having received a handbook on the date you signed it so in that sense, it's good forever.
 

edwashere

Junior Member
iowa
Hey thanks all for the responce. The handbook does'nt state a time limit other than a phrase that reads" I understand that the Associate Handbook is presented as a guide for associates and contains explanation of rules, procedures and benefits available at the time of my employment" - Does that mean at that time of employment?

The signature acknowledges that I recieved the handbook and "I agree to fully and completely read and abide by the rules of conduct as set forth in the handbook."

Is that signature still binding on me for any future employment relationships or just that one with this same company?
 

Beth3

Senior Member
Is that signature still binding on me for any future employment relationships or just that one with this same company? Huh? If you mean is the handbook valid for all periods of employment with this company, the answer is yes.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
You might also want to keep in mind that failure to sign does NOT in any way mean that the code of conduct expected of any employee is not binding on you. You are still responsible for abiding by the handbook regardless of whether you sign it or not.
 

edwashere

Junior Member
iowa
I disagree with the answers provided. I feel thats its my signature ,Its my agreement to follow the rules. I feel I can withdraw that agreement at any time, and if I am curently employed by the company they can discharge me for not agreeing to follow the rules,as it is a condition of employment.
But it seems common sence to me that if these rule are important to the employer that they take necasary actions to insure that they have an agreement of compliace from every employee at every instance of employment.
I was hired in 2000 and agreed to follow the rules
I was separated from the company in 2002 and worked for a different employer, with their own rules. Its my belief that any agreements with the first company ends when my employment ends unless there an agreement to something else.
I was rehired at the first company in 2003, they never had me read or agree to follow the rules.
Does this make any sence to anyone else?
 

Beth3

Senior Member
Yes, I follow your logic but you're wrong.

1) An employer doesn't have to have an Employee Handbook in the first place.
2.) Regardless of whether they do or not, they can hold you accountable for whatever standards of conduct and work rules the employer elects to have. For example, I'll bet no Handbook states specifically that if you punch your supervisor in the nose, you'll be discharged immediately. Nonetheless that's exactly what would happen.
3.) For the third time, you can't unreceive something you acknowledged receipt of. If they'd given you a copy of the Handbook twenty years ago, it would still be valid. You can't unring a bell.

I take it you're trying to find some basis to argue something you're being held accountable for with your current employer. I suggest you give it up. If they want to discpline you for wearing green on Tuesdays - even if they never told you they had a rule prohibiting that - they can.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
What you feel makes no difference to what an employer legally can and can't do. You can feel that you are not held to follow the handbook if you haven't signed that last page, but if your employer chooses to discipline or fire you because you did not adhere to the contents, it will be legal no matter what you have or have not signed, no matter what you "feel". The law doesn't change because you don't happen to agree with it.
 
I understand your situation, but I don't think it changes your obligation to follow the rules.

First of all, as cbg said, whether or not you sign the handbook receipt is irrelevant. The company can and will have an expectation that you will follow the rules.

Unless the rules have changed since you left in 2001 - and my guess is they probably have not changed significantly - you are still obligated to follow them and you still have knowledge of what the rules are as you signed a handbook receipt, even if it was years ago, acknowledging that you know the rules and agree to adhere to them.

Your employer does not have to request or require that you sign another handbook receipt, especially if it's essentially the same handbook you've already read and agreed to abide by. And yes...they can fire you for failing to adhere to the rules.

What's the big deal? Is there a problem with following the rules?
 

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
My response:

Everybody keeps dancing around the same theory of law!

Ladies, it's called "ratification". Isn't anybody in the least interested in looking up that word?

Look, when our writer accepted her job again, by "accepting" the job, she "ratified" her knowledge of, and acceptance of, the Employee Handbook.

It's a simple concept.

IAAL
 

edwashere

Junior Member
iowa
thanks i'm starting to understand

my state iowa is an right to work state. Either me or the employer can end the employment at any time for any or no reason.
When this employment relation ends does,nt my agreement to follow their rules also end?

I was fired - ok
I was approved for unemployment -ok

my employer appealed the descision - they said "i should be disqualified under the misconduct definition (a) Specifically as the term is used in the disqualification provision as being limited to conduct evincing such willful or wonton disregard of an employers interest as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior".
I've got a hearing scheduled can i say they were wrong to assume i would agree to all the specifics of the handbook again. just because i did it once? am i not allowed to learn from previous mistakes?

circomstances (short version)

I was at work spraying acid on roof
I had a minor accident(seal on sprayer broke, spraying acid on me)
I called for help on 2 way radio - no responce
I called for help on pool emergency phone - 10 rings no answer
There was no fire alarm or i would of used it

I got to work shop, used eyewashstation, sink to wash up. I could still see :) but my cloths were soaked through in spots.It iched and burned mildly
minuts later a co-worker arrived in shop. I told him what happened. He said the boss was in meeting, unavailable. I told him i was leaving to take a shower.

I was fired for not notifying anyone i was leaving. the rules i signed the last time i worked there says I have to notify someone
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
First of all, Iowa may be a right to work state, but all that means is that you can't be forced to join a union to get work. What you mean to say is that Iowa is an employment at will state.

You still seem to be under the incorrect assumption that if you don't sign, you don't have to follow the rules. That is NOT the case. You have to follow the rules regardless of whether you sign or not. You are not excused from following the rules because you don't sign.

The signature is proof that you were advised of the rules. But without such proof, your employer is still legally permitted to insist that you follow them. ALL the signature means is that they can prove you were told the rules. It has nothing whatsoever to do with whether you have to follow them or not.

Whether you signed again is immaterial. You were still advised of the rules, whether it was at the onset of your first or second employment.
 

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