Progressive Discipline and At Will
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7 Posts
I thought that Progressive Discipline was in direct conflict with At Will policy. What do others think?????
Michelle M. O'Neil
Michelle M. O'Neil
Comments
There have been court cases where employers have experienced problems with the verbiage in their Employee Handbook. For instance, the Company will have a paragraph talking about At Will (I assume you know what this is) but will then state later in the Handbook that they have a Progressive Discipline policy. Given that At Will says you can hire and fire anyone at any time without a reason, when you have a Progressive Discipline policy, you create the concept of "for cause." This is in direct conflict with At Will and employees have taken their employers to court due to the above reasons. If you wish to discuss this and I can explain any additional information to you, please call me. This is a complex issue and, sometimes, talking about the issue over the phone provides a better stream of communication. My number is (937) 254-4441 (ext. 128). Take care. Michelle
The problem for employers is that our sense of fairness says we have to give employees some idea of where they stand and at what point they could get fired. One way you can deal with this as an employer without eliminating At Will status is to put in a Progressive Discipline Policy that allows the employer to skip any, and all, steps if the behavior is serious enough. There should be some oversight (I recommend review by HR to ensure equity and a lack of discrimination) if the supervisor wishes to skip steps.
I have a Corrective Action Policy that lets you do all of this as well as accelerate the process for probationary employees. I'll be glad to send it to you with the Form that goes along with it. E-mail me if you want it.
Hope that helps.
Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
My discipline policy is:
"All employees are expected to meet Company Name standards of work performance. Work performance encompasses many factors, including attendance, punctuality, personal conduct, job proficiency and general compliance with the Company’s policies, Statement of Purpose and procedures.
If an employee does not meet these standards, the Company may, under appropriate circumstances and at their sole discretion, take corrective action, other than immediate dismissal. The intent of corrective action is to formally document problems while providing the employee with a reasonable time within which to improve performance. The process is designed to encourage development by providing employees with guidance in areas that need improvement such as poor work performance, attendance problems, personal conduct, general compliance with the Company’s policies and procedures and/or other disciplinary problems.
Employees who have had formal written warnings are not eligible for salary increases, promotions or transfers during the warning period."