CIHRM: HR Policy Project 1
Contemporary Issues in HR Management: HR Policy Project
School of Business Administration, Liberty University
Author Note
Abstract:
Employee handbooks serve as foundational tools for aligning human capital with organizational
strategy, ensuring legal compliance, and fostering ethical governance (Noe, 2023). By
articulating proactive human resource (HR) policies addressing discrimination, harassment,
healthcare benefits, and leave, these employee handbooks establish clear behavioral
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expectations and standards to promote safe, equitable workplaces. These HR policies mitigate
legal risk and ensure ethical conduct. In addition, these policies improve employee engagement
and create a safe and resilient workplace culture. From a biblical perspective (New International
Version Bible, 1978/2025), employee handbooks reflect divine principles of accountability,
dignity, and fairness. Grounded in scriptural mandates for compassion (Galatians 6:2; Zechariah
7:9-10), justice (Isaiah 1:17; Micah 6:8), and stewardship (1 Peter 4:10; Colossians 3:23), a
company’s HR policies become instruments of ethical business practice, ensuring operational
integrity and organizational success. Consequently, even small businesses with 15 to 25
employees must prioritize the inclusion of these HR policies in their employee handbooks and
training.
Keywords: employee handbooks, human resource policies, HRM, legal compliance, small
business, ethical governance, training
Introduction
Employee handbooks, which include proactive human resource (HR) policies, align a
company’s human capital with its strategic goals while ensuring legal compliance and ethical
governance (Noe, 2023). Employee handbooks clearly define an organization's expectations and
policies regarding the company’s human capital. Proactive HR policies within employee
handbooks provide legal safeguards and safe working environments for employers and
employees. By relying on HR policies addressing issues such as discrimination, harassment,
healthcare benefits, and leave, businesses develop their human capital. These HR policies, in
addition to others, help promote employment engagement and create a robust workplace
culture.
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Prevention of Workplace Discrimination
Workplace discrimination is a serious human resource issue with individual and
organizational consequences (Noe, 2023). Noe notes three workplace discrimination theories,
which are disparate treatment, disparate impact, and reasonable accommodation. Unfair
discriminatory behaviors and practices damage employee engagement and workplace culture;
create legal liability; and damage an organization's brand and reputation. Employee
discrimination-related concerns are not exclusive to medium and large-sized enterprises.
Discrimination affects all organizations, including small businesses. As a result, businesses
benefit from a written employee handbook that includes an employment anti-discrimination
policy. A proactive anti-discrimination policy ensures that an organization complies with its
ethical, moral, and legal responsibilities to its workforce.
Mandated Laws and Principles:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency
responsible for enforcing, monitoring, and providing guidelines for equal employment
opportunities (Noe, 2023). Enforced by the EEOC, federal laws, such as Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (n.d.) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, address various types of
employment discrimination. It is essential to note that these federal statutes apply to all
businesses with more than fifteen employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission’s Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) defines discrimination based on
race, color, sex, or national origin as an unlawful employment practice (SEC.
2000e-2. [Section 703]). Later in 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) amended Title
VII, prohibiting discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or medically related conditions.
PDA further classifies pregnancy-related bias as sex-based discrimination.
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The current business environment also contains a heightened sensitivity regarding
reproductive health decisions. In the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in
2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the case of Roe v. Wade, ending federal constitutional
abortion rights (Kessler, 2024). As a result, the Court returned decisions regarding abortion
rights to individual states. The Supreme Court decision on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Organization case could have significant implications for workplace discrimination and
harassment. Therefore, organizations must consider the potential for religious or political
tension surrounding reproductive rights. In light of this situation, when developing their
discrimination and harassment policies, organizations must navigate adherence to state-level
reproductive health decisions laws as well as the company’s moral obligation to protect
employees' privacy, dignity, and fairness. Failure to respond appropriately may affect a
company’s organizational and operational success.
Human Resource Policy Recommendation:
In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, organizations, including small
businesses, need a proactive and effective anti-discrimination policy to identify, prevent, and
enforce organizational standards and expectations. Antidiscrimination education and training,
based on organizational values, ethical standards, and legal mandates, should be included in
their employee handbooks. These written handbooks provide a basis for a company’s new
employee, managerial, and ongoing annual training requirements. This recommendation
ensures that all leaders and front-line staff understand the behavioral expectations regarding
the legal and ethical obligations of the company’s anti-harassment policy. Failure to do so may
negatively affect the company's work culture and environment and damage operational and
organizational effectiveness.
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A proactive HR policy is the framework for ethical business practices, based on ethical
stewardship, moral commitment to justice, dignity, inclusion, and legal safeguards (Noe, 2023).
An anti-discrimination policy helps to create a respectful work culture, psychological safety,
ethical workplace conduct, and a just work environment. In order to do so, Noe recommends
incorporating anti-discrimination education into new employee, managerial, and ongoing
annual training requirements. This ensures that all leaders and front-line staff understand the
organization’s expectations regarding protected cases, legal obligations, inclusive language, and
ethical standards.
Prevention of Workplace Harassment
While harassment and discrimination have similar legal, moral, and ethical implications,
harassment is behavior-based, unlike discrimination, which is decision-based (Noe, 2023). Noe
further defines harassment as repeated or severe unwelcome conduct that creates a hostile
work environment. Both discrimination and harassment have ethical, legal, and moral
implications.
From a human resource management (HRM) perspective, companies may have difficulty
differentiating between negative behaviors such as disrespectful conduct and harassment (Folz,
2023). Disrespect is a dismissive, inconsiderate, or rude behavior. While not unlawful,
companies may benefit from addressing disrespectful behaviors in their code of conduct.
Disrespectful conduct has the potential to damage workplace culture. It is crucial to note that
disrespect does not have legal ramifications. Nevertheless, disrespectful behavior may escalate
to harassment, which has the potential to become an illegal discriminatory act.
Workplace harassment is the unlawful targeting of an individual based on their
protected traits. This also includes sexual harassment (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2021). Cavico and
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Mujtaba acknowledge that sexual harassment includes sexual favoritism, quid pro quo, and
hostile work environments. Currently, the #MeToo movement has increased awareness of
sexual harassment as a type of workplace harassment and sex-based discrimination. Therefore,
businesses may benefit from also addressing all forms of harassment, including sexual
harassment, in their employee handbooks.
Mandated Laws and Principles:
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in the Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson case,
declaring workplace harassment an unlawful act under Title VII (EEOC, 2024). The Court further
defined harassment as discriminatory conduct. As the Federal agency governing equal
employment opportunities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.)
guidance further defines harassment as “a form of employment discrimination that violates Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (ADEA),
and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA)” (para. 1). The EEOC (2024) further
prohibits “work-related harassment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy,
childbirth, or related medical conditions; sexual orientation; gender identity), national origin,
disability, genetic information, and age (40 or over)” (para. I.A).
Human Resource Policy Recommendation:
Similar to HR policy recommendations for discrimination, anti-harassment training is an
essential part of any employee handbook. Noe (2023), as well as Cavico and Mujtaba (2021),
recommend workplace and sexual harassment prevention training for organizations. The
recommended employee and leadership training should focus on communication, recognition,
prevention, and enforcement. This recommendation ensures that all leaders and front-line staff
understand the moral and behavioral expectations regarding the legal and ethical obligations of
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the company’s anti-harassment policy. By embedding anti-harassment, including sexual
harassment prevention, education into organizational culture, businesses will comply with legal
mandates. As a result of an inclusive work culture, companies will demonstrate ethical
stewardship, improve organizational effectiveness, and create an environment with
psychological safety for their workforce.
Employer-Provided Healthcare Benefits
Providing employee healthcare benefits can be a costly expenditure, especially for a
small business. However, Tsolmon & Ariely (2022) strongly recommend employer-based
healthcare benefits as a compelling competitive differentiator and strategic asset to an
organization, especially in challenging labor markets. Noe (2023) also identifies healthcare
benefits as a moral obligation as well as an effective HR strategy in the current competitive labor
market. As part of an employee’s total compensation package, employer-provided healthcare
benefits improve employee engagement, job satisfaction, and workplace culture. As a result,
companies create an alignment between the workforce and the organization’s strategic and
financial targets. In the current labor market, companies, including small businesses, should
consider employee healthcare benefits as a valuable strategy for improving organizational
performance, talent acquisition, and retention. Companies with employer-provided healthcare
benefits demonstrate their ethical stewardship and organizational values towards their
workforce. Mandated Laws and Principles:
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is the U.S. Department of Labor
division that administers and enforces Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). The role of this U.S. Department of Labor division is to protect
employer-provided benefits by ensuring Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
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(ERISA) compliance. ERISA establishes the federal standards pertaining to private industries’
voluntary retirement and healthcare plans. It is important to note that ERISA mandates also
apply to small businesses. Therefore, EBSA provides federal oversight of organizations of any
size that offer employer-sponsored benefits such as healthcare, retirement, and wellness
programs.
Human Resource Policy Recommendation:
Tsolmon & Ariely (2022) strongly recommend that organizations, including small
businesses, monitor labor markets to identify and adjust to any relevant changes to trends,
laws, and policies related to employer-based healthcare benefits. This allows companies,
including small businesses, to adjust their benefit offerings accordingly. Noe (2023)
recommends educating and embedding healthcare benefits literacy into employee training
handbooks.
Including preventive and wellness programs as healthcare benefits is another recommendation.
Companies may strategically benefit from these programs by improving the overall physical,
emotional, and mental well-being of their workforce. The three above recommendations create
an informed workforce, improve employee well-being, productivity, engagement, and talent
retention.
Employer-Provided Leave
Similar to employer-provided healthcare benefits, companies may also benefit by
utilizing employer-provided leave as a strategic asset, especially in challenging labor markets
(Noe, 2023). Leave benefits, including personal, paid parental, bereavement, unpaid, and
vacation, are valuable strategic assets that improve operational and organizational performance.
As part of a total reward package, an organization should view employer-provided leave as a
way to align talent with organizational goals. Noe emphasizes that employee total reward
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packages improve employee engagement, enhance talent retention, and overall workforce
wellness. Noe also views employer-provided leave as a company’s moral obligation for good
stewardship of its workforce.
Mandated Laws and Principles:
Organizations must create flexible employer-provided leave policies in compliance with
strict anti-discrimination laws (Noe, 2023). By doing so, companies accommodate employees
with disabilities and maintain their operational integrity. The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission is responsible for enforcing, monitoring, and providing guidelines for
equal employment opportunities. Therefore, the EEOC (2016) mandates that employer-provided
leave must comply with federal anti-discrimination laws outlined in Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. The EEOC also evaluates
employerprovided leave policies for voluntary compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA). Organizations, regardless of size, must provide equal access to leave for their
employees with disabilities. The ADA also mandates that companies grant leave as a reasonable
accommodation, thus providing an opportunity for employees with disabilities to work on a
similar basis to their non-disabled colleagues.
Human Resource Policy Recommendation:
Companies, including small businesses, need to educate their leadership and front-line
staff regarding leave benefits during their new employee and ongoing mandatory training (Noe,
2023). Furthermore, organizations should align their leave policies with their business goals.
Noe further recommends integrating employer-provided leave into total reward packages.
Companies should communicate total compensation benefits through their onboarding and
training. By educating both employees and managers, organizations can reduce confusion and
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promote fairness, ensuring equitable access to leave benefits, consistent enforcement of legal
mandates.
Conclusion:
Our Lord calls humans to conduct themselves in alignment with His character. From a
biblical standpoint (New International Version Bible, 1978/2025), employee handbooks provide
a framework for ethical business practices based on principles of accountability, dignity, fairness,
stewardship, and transparency. These principles are derived from the Christian standard and
expectation of compassion (Galatians 6:2, Zechariah 7:9-10), justice (Isaiah 1:17, Micah 6:8), and
stewardship (1 Peter 4:10, Colossians 3:23), especially in business interactions. As a result,
companies of any size, including small businesses containing 15 to 25 employees, must consider
including human resource (HR) policies in their written employee handbooks.
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Therefore, proactive HR policies are fundamental for operational and organizational success
regardless of company size.
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References
Cavico, F., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2021). Workplace romance and sexual favoritism in the #MeToo
workplace: Legal and practical considerations for management. Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion: An International Journal, 40(6), 667–689. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-11-
2020-0324
Folz, C. (2023, November 14). When does disrespect become harassment? SHRM.
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/disrespect-become-harassment
Kessler, L. T. (2024). Reproductive justice at work: Employment law after 'Dobbs v. Jackson
Women's Health Organization'. Cornell Law Review, 109(6), 1447-1523.
New International Version Bible. (2025). The NIV Bible. https://www.biblegateway.com
(Original work published 1978)
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U.S. Congress. (2021). Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, H.R.1065, 117th Cong.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1065
U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.). Employee Benefits Security Administration.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2016, May 9). Employer-provided leave and
the Americans with Disabilities Act.
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/employer provided-leave-and-americans-
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2024, April 29). Enforcement guidance on
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https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-harassment-workplace
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
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