Discipline / Investigations

Watching the detectives: A cautionary tale on employee privacy

11/16/2009

When it comes to work-related matters, many private-sector employers think that employees’ rights to privacy are limited, if they exist at all. A recent $1.8 million jury verdict should help dispel that myth.

Sample Policy: Violence and Weapons

11/11/2009

Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

Attitude, absence & foul language: 3 scripts for those conversations you’d rather not have

11/10/2009

Paul Falcone, author of 101 Tough Conversations to Have with Employees, offers these scripts to follow when you need to have awkward but essential conversations with employees. Here’s what managers should say after they’ve said, “Hey, got a minute?”

Is refusing to sign a disciplinary notice itself a reason for further discipline?

11/05/2009

Q. We recently disciplined an employee for poor performance. She did not agree with our assessment and is refusing to sign the memo documenting our discussions. Can we discipline her for her refusal to sign this memo?

Keep memos, other documents leading up to discipline

11/02/2009

You never know which employee is going to be the one who will sue over discipline. But one thing is certain: When she does, you’ll need every bit of documentary evidence you can find to justify your decision.

Beware disciplining employees for FMLA-related tardiness

10/26/2009

Employees eligible for intermittent FMLA leave are entitled to take that leave at the beginning of their scheduled shifts if they need to. While that may make them late for work, you can’t punish that tardiness, as long as the employee follows your call-in policies and the underlying reason for being late is related to intermittent FMLA leave.

Don’t use discipline system to settle old scores

10/22/2009

Do you have a progressive disciplinary system? Don’t short-circuit it!

Record infraction, punishment for every rules violation

10/21/2009

Make a note every time you take disciplinary action against an employee. You need documentation that explains why each employee was punished.

8 keys to effective performance appraisal

10/13/2009

It happens to every manager: You sit down to prepare a staff member’s review and realize you can remember only what the person has done the past few weeks. Supervisors should never rely solely on memory to evaluate employee performance. The most useful, easy-to-implement way is to create and maintain a log for each person. Here’s how.

Handle supervisor harassment with a good policy, timely investigation and independent review

10/12/2009

It’s one of the toughest HR problems: Handling a sexual harassment claim when the alleged harasser is a supervisor. But all is not lost. With proper planning, you can minimize the liability risk. Here’s how: