Alaska Disciplinary Notices
Posted by Tamara
There are many company disciplinary policies that may not have grown out of state or federal labor laws.
A good number of them, however, are considered “best practices” and have been developed by the top Human Resources professionals. Policies like these have become the standard among large firms.
One such policy is the one directing that workers receive written “warnings” or notices regarding their misconduct.
No Alaska law, other state law, or federal law covers warnings for workers.
The policy of issuing written warnings is valuable for several reasons.
As just one example, the employee will attribute more significance to a written notice than to a mere spoken reprimand.
Also important is the fact that such a policy provides evidence that a clearly defined disciplinary procedure has been followed, should the employee choose to challenge his or her firing.
Most companies have put a formal and progressive disciplinary procedure in place. It starts with one or more verbal warnings. If the behavior is not corrected, it will be followed by as many as three written warnings. Should the employee fail to correct his or her behavior in a certain period, say 90 days, then he or she will be terminated.
Under the standard procedure, a supervisor will have a formal discussion with the employee regarding the behavior and the written warning. The manager generally asks the worker to sign the written warning. It should be noted that many employees think signing the document would be an admission of guilt, and will refuse to do so. In reality, the signing provides the supervisor with evidence that a formal policy has been followed.
The supervisor should make very clear to the worker what the consequences of failing to change behavior will be. This should be done, however, in a non-threatening manner.
Supervisors should also have another manager or supervisor at the discussion. This helps to avoid an unfortunate “he said-she said” situation, and provides more evidence of adherence to policy. If the worker declines to sign the paper, the second manager writes “Discussed with employee on (date) and employee refused to sign.”
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