Employee Discipline

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Employee Discipline

• Nancy R. Hudson

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Overview

• Used as necessary
• Not avoided
• Tempered with compassion and understanding
• Management tool used for employee development
• Termination is final step

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Purpose of Employee Discipline

• Improve work environment
• Improve performance
• Punishment is not the purpose
• Purpose
• To encourage a worker to replace an inappropriate
  behavior with a more appropriate behavior that
  contributes to a safe, pleasant, and productive
  workplace.

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Typical Reasons for Disciplining Employees

• Tardiness
• Absenteeism
• Insubordination
• Negligence
• Fighting
• Stealing
• Falsification of documents
• Abusiveness
• Harassment
• Use of obscene language

• Possession of controlled substance
• Reporting to work under the influence of alcohol
  or other controlled drug
• Substance abuse
• Infractions of published work rules
• Low productivity
• High error rate, overall
• Repetition of a specific error

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Purpose of Employee Discipline

• Misuse of Discipline
• Get even with or Get ride of employees
• Avoiding conflicts
• Termination
• Unsettling to group
• Confidentiality
• Approach with consistency and fairness

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Organizational Policy and Procedure

• Human Resources department
• Policy and Procedures (PP) Manual
• Written Disciplinary PP
• Ensure consistency among managers
• Protection for employees

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Organizational Policy and Procedure

• Components of Policies and Procedures
• Policy Statement
• Purpose
• Scope
• Procedure
• Example

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Policy

• In order to provide a safe and positive
  workplace for all, employees are expected to
  comply with standards of conduct and performance
  while on the job. When standards are not met,
  progressive discipline will be used as a way of
  encouraging an employee to meet the standards.

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Purpose

• This policy serves as a means to deal with
  problems related to poor performance or
  inappropriate conduct. It is to be administered
  equitably and consistently, with emphasis on
  correcting the problem rather than on punishing
  the employee.

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Scope

• All nonsupervisory staff.

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Procedure

1. The manager will meet with the employee to
   discuss the behavior or performance problem that
   has been identified. This interview will take
   place within five days of the most recent event.
2. If this problem recurs within 90 days, the
   manager will have a second interview with the
   employee, during which a written warning will be
   issued and placed in the employees file. The
   written warning will be issued within five days
   of the event described in the written warning.

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Procedure Continued

• 3. If there is another occurrence of this problem
  within six months of the date of the written
  warning, the manager will suspend the employee
  for two to four days without pay. The suspension
  must be initiated within five days of the
  incident that led to the suspension.

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Procedure continued

• 4. If this problem recurs within a year of the
  date of the suspension, the employee will be
  terminated. Termination must occur within five
  days of the incident that led to termination.

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The Disciplinary Process

• Verbal Warning
• Written Warning
• Suspension
• Termination

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Guidelines for Terminating an Employee

• Do
• Get all necessary approvals
• Complete the paperwork first
• Keep the message brief
• Schedule the termination in the morning
• Allow yourself time to recover

• Dont
• Terminated someone on Friday
• Terminate someone of the day before a holiday
• Terminate someone who is on vacation
• Phrase the reason for termination in personal
  terms
• Expect the employee to behave rationally

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Grounds for Immediate Termination

• Physical endangerment of others
• Consuming alcohol while on the job
• Using controlled substances while on the job
• Willful destruction of property
• Possession of firearms while on work premises
• Unauthorized disclosure of confidential
  information

• Stealing
• Falsification of documents
• Reporting to work under the influence of alcohol
  or controlled substances

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Documentation

• Anecdotal information
• Notes about encounters with employees
• Not part of formal records
• Optional
• May be subpoenaed for legal purposes
• Should be dated
• System should be applied to all employees
• Can be used for other purposes

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Documentation

• Official Documentation
• Follow PP
• Critical components
• Employees identifying information
• Managers identifying information
• Behavioral or performance problem
• Description of events and discussions preceding
  action
• Description of specific events leading to action
• Possible consequences if problem is not corrected
• Duration of the warning
• Signature of the manager
• Signature of the employee, with disclaimer
  regarding agreement

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Employee Assistance Programs

• May be used to deal with disciplinary problems
• Common for substance abuse problems
• Can be required part of disciplinary action

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Employee Grievances

• Grievance PP for organization
• Typical procedure
• Discuss problem with supervisor or manager
• Present issue to managers superior
• Grievance committee
• CEO

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Typical Reasons for Employee Grievances

• Disagreement over wages
• Inequitable work schedules
• Disagreement over hours of work
• Unfair conditions of employment

• Discrimination against worker
• Harassment of a worker
• Inconsistent performance standards
• Inappropriate use of disciplinary process

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Activity

• Work in groups of 3 or 4
• Complete Activities 4 5 on the handouts
  provided
• Submit one copy of your responses per group