It is the public policy of this State that a handbook, personnel manual, policy, procedure, or other document issued by an employer or its agent after June 30, 2004, shall not create an express or implied contract of employment if it is conspicuously disclaimed. For purposes of this section, a disclaimer in a handbook or personnel manual must be in underlined capital letters on the first page of the document and signed by the employee. For all other documents referenced in this section, the disclaimer must be in underlined capital letters on the first page of the document. Whether or not a disclaimer is conspicuous is a question of law.
S.C. Code Ann. § 41-1-110
Conspicuous disclaimer of contract of employment created by handbook, personnel manual, or other document issued by employer
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case Nelson v. Charleston County Parks & Recreation Commission (2004)
Most recently applied in Greenspan v. Brothers Property Corp. (April 2015)
2004 Act No. 185, SECTION 1, eff March 15, 2004.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.