![]() Ditto if you dole out punishment (i.e., termination) that doesn't appear to fit the offense. In other words, if the step formula outlined in your company's progressive discipline policy is violated, or if you fail to properly notify an employee that her job is in jeopardy, then you may end up on the losing end of a wrongful termination suit. ![]() So if you've ever scratched your head about losing a case to an employee who flagrantly disregarded work responsibilities, it's probably because an arbitrator concluded that due process was denied. They successfully argue, with the help of their attorneys, that your company breached its de facto obligation of good faith and fair dealing in managing its employees and in following its own policies. Terminated employees who are successful at winning wrongful discharge claims, on the other hand, typically can prove that they were denied due process-what we call progressive discipline. It is simply a fact of the modern workplace that you as a manager are charged with this responsibility. If the objective of any disciplinary system is to create and maintain a productive and responsive workforce, then disciplinary actions, when they occur, should focus on rehabilitating employees by deterring them from repeating past problem behaviors. And without a template to follow and samples to emulate, it's also no wonder that many managers create memos that cannot withstand legal scrutiny. So it's not surprising that many managers avoid writing up employees like the plague. Even when that theory is mastered, however, there remains the challenge of incorporating all those ideas into a written memo that adequately documents subpar job performance or workplace conduct. Unfortunately, most human resources professionals and line managers don't have the time to study the nuances of progressive discipline, workplace due process, summary dismissal, discharge for cause, and the like. ![]() This is the first in a three-part series on progressive discipline and its legal considerations.ĭocumenting poor performance and progressive discipline is as much an art as it is a science. This article is excerpted from Chapter 1 of 101 Sample Write-Ups for Documenting Employee Performance Problems: A Guide to Progressive Discipline & Termination, Third Edition (Amacom/SHRM, 2017 ), written by Paul Falcone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |