Disciplining Employees

Key Topics Covered in this session:

• Discipline is a necessary skill for all supervisors
• Employers should never ignore performance issues
• Feedback on performance (good or not so good) is important
• Clarify discipline lines of authority within your store(s)
• Use an Employee Handbook to specify all discipline procedures
• Always investigate and document all the facts of a misconduct incident
• Serious misconduct requires more fact finding, witnesses and video (if available)
• Proper preparation of a disciplinary memo to employee
• How to conduct a proper disciplinary meeting (with another manager present)

1. Employee Handbook

• May contain policies on discipline and termination
• Make sure you have a signed handbook receipt for every employee

2. Document, Document, Document

• Extremely important to document performance and conduct issues
  • A document counts much more than a verbal statement
  • “Picture is worth a thousand words” – same for documents

• Consistency is the key -- All employees must be treated the same for the same offense
• Seriousness and repeated offenses should determine the level of discipline
• Examples of types of discipline:
  • Verbal warning
  • Written warning
  • Performance plan (with certain amount of time to correct)
  • Written warning with suspension
  • Termination (if necessary)

3. Preparing the Disciplinary Memo

• Make sure discipline invoked is consistent with handbook policies
• Briefly describe the infraction and what they need to do to improve
• Inform the employee the consequence if they do not improved

4. The Disciplinary Meeting Process

• When administering the disciplinary meeting, another manager should be present
• Give employee a copy of written discipline, have employee sign and retain a signed copy
• If employee refuses to sign, note that on the discipline form and sign the notation

5. Post Disciplinary Meeting Desired Outcomes

• Employee has no doubt what employer’s expectations are
• Specific instructions on what the employee needs to improve
• What will happen if employee does not improve
• Finally, invite the employee to follow-up with any follow-up questions he or she may have

6. Remember the Attorney Helpline is there to help you through the process (877-376-4100)

Helpful Website Links on this Topic

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) homepage

• Society for Human Resource Management, Progressive Discipline Policy: Single Disciplinary Process (July 3, 2014)

• HR 360 Discipline and Termination Kit

• G&A Partners Blog, Best Practices for Employee Discipline & Termination (Aug. 2015)

• Business Owner’s Toolkit, Disciplining Your Workers Requires a Legally-Sound Policy (May 24, 2012)

• Excellence Essentials, Presented by HR.com, Employee Discipline And Termination: Best practices to manage workplace safety

• Entrepreneur 360, How to Discipline and Fire Employees (article excerpted from The Small Business Encyclopedia, except for the discrimination section, which was written by Larry Rosenfeld and appeared on Entrepreneur.com as the article "Protecting Yourself When Terminating Employees.")

• EEOC Guidance, The Americans With Disabilities Act: Applying Performance And Conduct Standards To Employees With Disabilities (2008)