Starting next month, employers in South Carolina can fire workers and worry a little less about lawsuits as a result.

Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill March 15 that makes it harder for workers to contest a firing by using an employee handbook, personnel manual or similar document as evidence of a contract. The change to the state’s employment at-will law is effective July 1.

“Employment at will” means a person can be fired for any reason at any time, unless the person’s employment is protected by a written contract or another law, such as those that prohibit firing someone because of their race or age. The same at-will doctrine allows a person to quit any time.

However, the principle is trumped by a written contract. The problem for employers has been when juries decide that companies unintentionally created such contracts in their handbooks.

The new law states that a handbook, personnel manual, policy, procedure, or other document issued by an employer or its agent after June 30 “shall not create an express or implied contract of employment if it is conspicuously disclaimed.”

Kristine L. Thompson, a Columbia lawyer who represents companies, advises companies that want to issue handbooks to:

Issue new ones after June 30. Old handbooks are not protected by the new law.

Avoid promises and commitments to employees.

Include a conspicuous disclaimer on the first page printed in capital letters and underlined.

Require employees to sign the new handbook.

Consult an attorney.

Memos will also require conspicuous disclaimers, but not necessarily signatures, she said.

The trick will be determining what is conspicuous. Thompson said she and other lawyers are modeling disclaimers after language and formats upheld by past court rulings.

Working in the employers’ favor is the last sentence of the new law, which will allow judges to decide whether a disclaimer is conspicuous. Under current law, they must let juries decide.

Employment at will is a common law doctrine, one that has been established by courts over time.

In South Carolina, the courts have ruled that handbooks can be considered implied contracts if they include promises or mandates, even if they are accompanied by an overall disclaimer.

Lawsuits involving handbooks typically have been filed when employees have claimed they were fired without warnings, hearings or other steps outlined in disciplinary procedures spelled out in their handbooks.

The bill was backed by business groups, including the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. Hunter Howard, the chamber’s president, said the court rulings weakened the principal of at-will employment in the state, and caused many companies to stop issuing handbooks.

The courts’ rulings led businesses to perceive their liability was growing, said S.C. Rep. Harry Cato, R-Greenville, who introduced the bill.

“It became a concern to companies, and companies considering moving to South Carolina,” he said. “We felt it was going to hurt the business climate of the state, and economy of the state.”

The bill was opposed by the S.C. AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions, and the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association, whose members represent workers in disputes with companies.

Malissa Burnette, a Columbia lawyer and member of the association, said the new law gives employers license to lure people to work for them by showing them written materials they can ignore at will.

“It’s an intent to prevent employees from having the same right to enter into contracts with other people,” Burnette said.

“This law says an employer can write down a promise to an employee, but if they put certain language in front of it, they can take it back. It can be a total lie.

Donna Dewitt, president of the S.C. AFL-CIO, said workers should take the new law as a warning: “No matter what you read in that handbook, it means nothing. If they don’t like you, they can fire you.”

Dewitt said it is ironic that most of the workers likely to be hurt by the law are salaried employees, who more often take their cases to court, while union members are protected from the law because they are covered by written contracts.

“If you really want to know what you have, you need a written contract.”

The new law, she said, “should be an excellent organizing tool.”

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305 or jduplessis@thestate.com.