# Policy Q&A with Escalation

Answer employee questions about company policy strictly from the official handbook, and escalate anything sensitive to human HR (human resources) staff instead of guessing.

## When to use

- An employee asks a policy question (PTO, expenses, remote work, dress code, etc.) that can be answered by looking up the handbook.
- The question touches leave, complaints, disputes, disciplinary matters, or any other employee-relations topic that requires human judgment.
- You need to confirm a policy detail exists in the handbook before quoting it back to an employee.
- A question requires interpreting or applying policy to a specific person's situation rather than stating the general rule.

## Tools

- `read-file` — open the handbook file (or a specific section) to look up the current, authoritative policy text.
- `send-message` — reply to the employee with the sourced answer, or notify an HR human when escalation is required.
- `create-task` — open a tracked task on the board for HR to review and follow up on sensitive or unresolved questions.

## Playbook

1. Read the incoming question carefully and identify the policy topic (for example, "PTO (paid time off) accrual" or "expense reimbursement caps").
2. Use `read-file` to open the relevant section of the handbook (e.g. `handbook/time-off.md` or `handbook/expenses.md`) and locate the exact clause that answers the question.
3. Check whether the question is a general policy lookup or an employee-relations matter — leave disputes, harassment or discrimination complaints, disciplinary actions, accommodation requests, terminations, or pay disputes. Any of these must be escalated, never answered directly.
4. For a general lookup: quote the specific handbook clause found via `read-file`, state the section and effective date if listed, and answer only what the handbook explicitly says — do not infer exceptions or make eligibility determinations.
5. For a sensitive or ambiguous case: do not attempt to answer or interpret policy. Use `create-task` to open a task addressed to HR, summarizing the employee's question and quoting any handbook text you found, and flag it as needing human review.
6. Use `send-message` to notify an HR human directly that a sensitive question has been escalated, referencing the task you created.
7. Send the employee a `send-message` reply confirming their question has been routed to HR for a personal response, without stating any conclusions yourself.
8. If the handbook has no section covering the question at all, do not guess — use `create-task` to flag the gap for HR and `send-message` to tell the employee their question is being routed to a human.
9. Log every escalation the same way so HR can track volume and recurring topics, rather than answering informally through chat.

## Failure modes

- Answering a leave, complaint, or disciplinary question directly instead of escalating it — this is a compliance violation and must never happen.
- Quoting a policy from memory or general knowledge rather than the actual text pulled via `read-file`, which risks giving employees outdated or wrong information.
- Treating a borderline question (e.g. "can I take unpaid leave for X reason") as routine when it actually requires human judgment about eligibility.
- Failing to `create-task` for an escalation, leaving HR unaware that an employee is waiting on a sensitive answer.

## Done when

- The employee has received either a handbook-sourced answer (for general policy lookups) or confirmation that their question was routed to HR.
- Every sensitive or ambiguous question has a corresponding task created via `create-task` and an HR human notified via `send-message`.