Employee Handbook

EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

State of Indiana

[COMPANY LEGAL NAME]

Effective Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Handbook Status and Administration
2. Equal Employment and Accommodation
3. Wage, Hour, Payday, Break, and Youth-Employment Policies
4. Leave, Jury Service, Voting, and Lactation
5. Safety, Worker’s Compensation, and Weapons
6. Records, Confidentiality, and Protected Activity
7. Conduct, Attendance, and Corrective Action
8. Separation of Employment
9. Administration and Acknowledgment

1. HANDBOOK STATUS AND ADMINISTRATION

1.1 Purpose and Scope

This Handbook states the general policies of [Company Legal Name] (the “Company”) for Employees working in Indiana. It must be completed for the Company's workforce, locations, industry, benefits, and any collective bargaining agreement before distribution.

1.2 Not a Contract; Employment Relationship

This Handbook is not an employment contract, a promise of employment for a fixed term, or a guarantee that any particular corrective-action step will be used. Unless a signed agreement, collective bargaining agreement, or applicable law provides otherwise, either the Employee or the Company may end employment at any time. Only [AUTHORIZED TITLE] may sign an agreement changing that relationship.

1.3 Reporting Channels and Anti-Retaliation

An Employee may report a concern orally or in writing to [SUPERVISOR], [HR CONTACT], or [ALTERNATE/ETHICS CONTACT], and may bypass anyone involved in the concern. The Company will respond promptly and impartially and prohibits retaliation for good-faith reports, accommodation requests, wage complaints, protected leave, jury service, safety reports, worker’s compensation activity, participation in an investigation, or other legally protected conduct.

1.4 Definitions, Coverage, and Local-Law Review

“Employee” means an individual employed by the Company, whether full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal. A statute or benefit plan may use a different eligibility definition.

“Workweek” means the fixed seven-day period beginning at [DAY/TIME] and ending at [DAY/TIME] for payroll and overtime purposes.

Complete before issue:

• Six or more Employees for Indiana Civil Rights Law coverage review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Fifteen or more Employees for disability, PWFA, and federal civil-rights review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Fifty or more Employees for FMLA and Indiana military-family-leave review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Twenty-five or more Employees for Indiana lactation-storage review: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Employees under age eighteen: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Worker’s compensation coverage secured or lawful exemption confirmed: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Collective bargaining agreement applies: ☐ Yes ☐ No

Human Resources must separately review every municipal ordinance applicable to an Employee's work location. This state template does not substitute for a local overlay.

2. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT AND ACCOMMODATION

2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, citizenship or work-authorization status, lawful off-duty tobacco use, a sealed or expunged record where protected, or any other status protected by Company policy or applicable law.

Human Resources must determine which state, federal, and local coverage thresholds and definitions apply. Indiana's general civil-rights chapter, disability chapter, and age chapter use different coverage rules.

2.2 Complaint Procedure

Employees should report discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or an accommodation need to [HR CONTACT] or [ALTERNATE CONTACT]. Reports will be addressed promptly and as confidentially as reasonably possible. Employees may contact a government agency or pursue another protected remedy without first exhausting this internal process.

2.3 Disability, Religion, and Pregnancy Accommodation

The Company will engage in an appropriate interactive process and provide reasonable accommodation when required for disability, religion, pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. Human Resources will apply the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Indiana Civil Rights Law, and any law providing greater protection.

3. WAGE, HOUR, PAYDAY, BREAK, AND YOUTH-EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

3.1 Classification and Minimum Wage

Human Resources will classify workers based on actual duties and the working relationship, not labels alone. Salaried status by itself does not establish an overtime exemption.

Indiana's minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The Company will pay the highest applicable federal, state, local, contractual, or Company rate. A tip credit, training wage, youth rate, or exemption may be used only after written payroll and legal review.

3.2 Timekeeping and Overtime

Non-exempt Employees must accurately record all time worked, including authorized or unauthorized work before or after a shift, remote work, compensable travel, training, interrupted meals, and work communications. Working off the clock is prohibited, but all time actually worked must be recorded and paid.

Covered non-exempt Employees will receive one and one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over forty in a Workweek when required by Indiana or federal law. Overtime should be approved in advance, but lack of approval does not permit unpaid work.

3.3 Pay Schedule, Statements, and Deductions

The agreed pay schedule is [WEEKLY / BIWEEKLY / SEMIMONTHLY / MONTHLY / OTHER AGREED SCHEDULE], and payday is [____]. Payroll will issue each Employee a statement showing hours worked, wages paid, and deductions taken as required by Ind. Code § 22-2-2-8.

The Company will make deductions required by law and deductions supported by a valid written authorization or another lawful basis. Human Resources must verify that every voluntary deduction fits a category permitted by Ind. Code ch. 22-2-6. The cost of a mandatory uniform will not be deducted from wages.

3.4 Meal and Rest Periods

Indiana does not generally require a private employer to provide adult meal or rest periods, and current Indiana youth-employment guidance states that employers are not required to provide a minor a break or lunch regardless of hours worked. The Company's policy is:

• Meal period: [PAID / UNPAID / LENGTH / ELIGIBILITY]
• Rest periods: [PAID / LENGTH / FREQUENCY]
• Reporting interrupted meals or missed breaks: [METHOD]

Short rest periods provided by the Company will be treated as paid time when federal law requires. An unpaid meal period must be duty-free; any work during it must be reported and paid.

3.5 Youth Employment

Before employing anyone under eighteen, Human Resources must verify age, permitted hours, and prohibited or hazardous duties under Ind. Code ch. 22-2-18.1 and federal child-labor rules.

Current Indiana guidance permits sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds to work the same hours and days as adults, while fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds remain subject to hour and day restrictions. Federal hazardous-occupation restrictions still apply to workers under eighteen. Indiana's Youth Employment System reporting portal was decommissioned effective July 1, 2026, but the substantive hour and hazardous-duty rules remain in force.

3.6 Vacation and General PTO

The Company's written policy is:

• Accrual method: [____]
• Carryover, cap, or forfeiture rule: [____]
• Permitted uses: [____]
• Separation payout rule: [PAID / NOT PAID / CONDITIONS]
• Scheduling and approval rules: [____]

Indiana does not require vacation benefits, but vacation or PTO promised under a written policy or agreement must be administered according to that policy and applicable wage law.

4. LEAVE, JURY SERVICE, VOTING, AND LACTATION

4.1 Federal Family and Medical Leave

The FMLA applies to private employers with fifty or more Employees in at least twenty workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year and to covered public employers. An Employee generally must have twelve months of service, 1,250 hours worked in the prior twelve months, and fifty Employees within seventy-five miles of the worksite.

Eligible Employees may receive up to twelve workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family, medical, and military-exigency reasons and up to twenty-six workweeks in a single twelve-month period for qualifying military-caregiver leave. A separate FMLA policy and required notices control administration.

4.2 Indiana Military Family Leave

Ind. Code ch. 22-2-13 applies to an employer that has employed at least fifty Employees for each working day during at least twenty calendar workweeks in the current or preceding year.

An Employee who has at least twelve months of service, worked at least 1,500 hours in the preceding twelve months, and is the spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or sibling of a person ordered to qualifying active duty may receive up to ten working days of leave per calendar year. Leave may be used during the thirty days before the orders take effect, while the service member is on leave during the orders, or during the thirty days after the orders end.

The Company will administer notice, military verification, substitution of eligible paid leave, health coverage, restoration, and noninterference under the current chapter.

4.3 Jury Service

The Company will provide time away from work for an Employee who receives or responds to a jury summons, serves as a juror, or attends court for prospective jury service. The Company will not dismiss the Employee, deprive the Employee of employment benefits, or threaten either action because of protected jury service. Jury leave is [PAID / UNPAID] under Company policy; Human Resources must separately apply federal salary-basis rules to exempt Employees.

4.4 Voting and Company Safety Leave

Indiana does not provide a general private-sector voting-leave entitlement. The Company's voting policy is [PAID / UNPAID / AMOUNT / NOTICE]. This Company benefit must be administered consistently and without retaliation for lawful political activity where protected.

Indiana does not provide a general private-sector domestic-violence leave entitlement. The Company nevertheless provides the following confidential safety leave or schedule adjustment: [ELIGIBILITY / AMOUNT / PAID OR UNPAID / CONTACT]. Human Resources must also evaluate FMLA, disability or pregnancy accommodation, subpoena or court obligations, and other applicable protections.

4.5 Lactation Breaks and Space

For one year after a child's birth, the Company will provide reasonable break time whenever a covered Employee needs to express breast milk and an appropriate private space other than a bathroom, shielded from view and free from intrusion, as required by federal law.

For an Indiana employer with twenty-five or more Employees, Human Resources will also provide, to the extent reasonably possible, a private location and compliant cold-storage access under Ind. Code § 22-2-14-2.

4.6 Company Leave

5. SAFETY, WORKER'S COMPENSATION, AND WEAPONS

5.1 Workplace Safety

Employees must follow safety rules, use required protective equipment, and promptly report hazards, injuries, and illnesses to [CONTACT]. The Company prohibits retaliation for a good-faith safety or injury report.

5.2 Worker's Compensation

The Company will secure worker's compensation coverage unless a lawful exception applies and will post the required coverage notice. Employees should report a work-related injury or illness immediately to [CONTACT] so the Company can meet insurance, notice, recordkeeping, and reporting duties.

5.3 Drug, Alcohol, Violence, and Weapons

The Company policy is [NO TESTING / SEPARATE TESTING POLICY ATTACHED]. This Handbook alone does not establish a drug-testing program. Threats, violence, and unauthorized weapons are prohibited in Company buildings, work areas, and Company-owned vehicles to the extent permitted by law.

Before searching a private vehicle, requesting firearm information, or disciplining an Employee for a firearm lawfully stored out of sight in a locked private vehicle, Human Resources must review Ind. Code chs. 34-28-7 and 34-28-8 and their location, duty, school, childcare, secured-facility, and other exceptions.

6. RECORDS, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND PROTECTED ACTIVITY

6.1 Employment Eligibility Verification

The Company will complete and retain federal Form I-9 for each covered hire and will allow the Employee to choose from legally acceptable documents. The Company will not demand a particular document or use the process for unlawful discrimination.

6.2 Confidentiality and Lawful Disclosures

Employees must protect legitimate confidential and trade-secret information learned through work. This policy does not prohibit an Employee from reporting suspected unlawful conduct to a government agency or attorney, cooperating in an investigation, discussing wages or working conditions where protected, or engaging in other legally protected activity.

6.3 Separate Agreements

Any restrictive covenant, invention assignment, confidentiality agreement, commission plan, bonus plan, arbitration agreement, or drug-testing program must be separately drafted and reviewed under current Indiana and federal law. Ind. Code § 24-2-3-1 is part of the Indiana Uniform Trade Secrets Act; it is not an employee-invention-assignment limitation.

7. CONDUCT, ATTENDANCE, AND CORRECTIVE ACTION

7.1 Expected Conduct

Employees must perform assigned duties safely and honestly; comply with lawful policies; accurately record time and business records; protect Company, customer, and coworker property; avoid unlawful harassment, threats, or violence; and disclose actual conflicts of interest to [HR/COMPLIANCE].

7.2 Attendance and Call-In

Employees unable to report as scheduled must notify [CONTACT] by [METHOD] at least [____] before the shift when practicable. This policy will be administered consistently with accommodation, FMLA, military-family, jury, worker's compensation, and other protected-absence laws.

7.3 Corrective Action

The Company may use coaching, verbal warning, written warning, final warning, suspension, or termination. It may select or skip steps based on the circumstances. This policy does not create a contract or authorize action for a protected reason.

8. SEPARATION OF EMPLOYMENT

8.1 Notice and Return of Property

Employees are requested, but not required by this Handbook, to provide [____] days' resignation notice. At separation, Employees must return Company property and records. The Company will not withhold earned wages as leverage for a disputed debt or unreturned property outside a deduction permitted by Ind. Code ch. 22-2-6.

8.2 Final Pay and Benefits

Earned wages will be paid on the next regularly scheduled payday, subject to the timing rules in Ind. Code chs. 22-2-5 and 22-2-9. Vacation or PTO payout, commissions, bonuses, severance, expenses, and benefits will be handled under the governing written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law.

9. ADMINISTRATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

9.1 Policy Administration

The Company may prospectively revise policies in writing, subject to applicable law, earned wages and leave, contracts, and collective bargaining agreements. If a policy conflicts with controlling law, the law controls and the policy will be administered as closely as possible to its lawful purpose.

9.2 No Mandatory Internal Exhaustion

Employees are encouraged to use internal reporting channels, but nothing in this Handbook requires an Employee to waive or delay a right to contact a government agency, file a charge, report a crime, seek emergency assistance, consult counsel, discuss wages or working conditions where protected, or pursue another protected remedy.

9.3 No Risk-Shifting Terms

This Handbook does not impose arbitration, a jury waiver, employee indemnity, a damages cap, attorney-fee shifting, an exclusive court forum, a pre-claim notice-and-cure period, or a force-majeure excuse from wage, leave, safety, or insurance obligations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT

I, [EMPLOYEE NAME], acknowledge that I received the [Company Legal Name] Employee Handbook effective [MM/DD/YYYY] and understand that I am expected to follow its lawful policies. I understand that this acknowledgment and the Handbook are not employment contracts and do not promise employment for a fixed term.

Sources and References

• Indiana Department of Labor — Wage and Hour
• Indiana Department of Labor — Minimum Wage and Overtime Explanation
• Indiana Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Knowledge Base
• Indiana Department of Labor — Youth Employment
• Indiana Department of Labor — 2025 Youth-Employment Changes
• Indiana Civil Rights Commission — Employment
• Indiana Civil Rights Commission — Pregnancy Discrimination and Workplace Rights
• Indiana Civil Rights Commission — Indiana Civil Rights Law, ch. 1
• Indiana Civil Rights Commission — Age Discrimination, ch. 2
• Indiana Civil Rights Commission — Disability Discrimination, ch. 5
• Indiana General Assembly — Current Title 22
• Indiana General Assembly — Current Title 34
• Indiana Attorney General — Gun Owners' Bill of Rights
• Indiana Worker's Compensation Board — Employee Eligibility
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Hours Worked
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Overtime
• U.S. Department of Labor — FMLA FAQ
• U.S. Department of Labor — Pump at Work
• U.S. Department of Labor — USERRA Rights
• U.S. Department of Labor — Federal Child-Labor Rules
• OSHA — Worker Rights and Protections