eSign Performance Improvement Plan Made Easy

E sign performance improvement plan

[Music] [Music] and hello welcome to the Employment Law Show I'm John Scoles your host and the brains of the operation sitting right there lay or say in fear we talk about employment rights and severance and just going through that tangled web of employment and something we all do for for many years decades as a matter of fact it's a very important part of your life is if not the most time you spend eight hours day a plus is that your job when you think about it that is thousands of hours literally thousands of hours so there's all kinds of things you need to know coming up in this show we'll get to everything you need to know about performance improvement plans what are they how do they work we'll fill you in on that we'll get those phone calls from our radio show anytime you want to check out whether it is employment lawyer dot CA and always the number to reach out one eighty five five eight to one fifty nine hundred first so we thought was what's going on it's always going on what's always going on I talk to a lot of people which is great I don't even know when I have time to practice law because I'm on the phone all the time I email all the time answering questions delegate that's a good idea to try that and I speak with people all the time i workplace rights you know what I do here on the show I do this in my office all the time people call me with questions people email me with questions people text me with questions you name it and I answer them off that's wonderful it's what I want to do because there's always solutions to workplace problems they're not always perfect but they're usually pretty good there's solution so if you have a workplace problem your boss did something or said something or maybe you found out that the company is making some changes or restructuring what does it mean to your job maybe the business is being sold or bought what does that all mean you can always reach out to me you can always call me I can tell you what you need to do to know so you don't stress out you don't lose sleep over it no need for that and of course on the show just by watching this show we'll be able to educate you every week but so many things to do with your job and workplace but week there was specifically a situation that came across my desk over the past few days or so I spoke with a gentleman who had actually been accused by a co-worker of bullying and harassment he had been accused and he met with the company gave his side of the story he didn't feel that he did anything wrong and the company said fine we're gonna investigate this but in the meantime we're gonna suspend you without pay and we're gonna let you know when we're ready to come to have you come back to work to let you know what we've found so he'd waited a few days within a week he hadn't heard back from him contacted the company we're still working on it ten days still working on it two weeks still working on it finally called me so they're what gives you I'm suspended without pay I'm not earning any income I don't think I did anything wrong what gives well let's start with the proposition John that a suspension without pay is actually illegal for most people the company does not have a right to suspend without pay they do have a right to suspend with pay as a disciplinary measure as long as it's that's it's justified they can't just do that willy-nilly but they don't have a right to suspend without pay for company suspends you without pay that is actually a constructive dismissal you do not have to accept that now in this case it's even more absurd they're suspending him without pay which is a disciplinary matter while they're determining whether he should be disciplined or they be punished I mean isn't that putting the cart before the horse I think it's the definition of it so no they can't do that and even if the discipline was justified they cannot suspend them without pay we're talking about non-union environments of course so if your employer ever suspends you without pay you have a choice you can choose to accept at that suspension and come back to work or you can choose to treat that as a termination as a constructive dismissal the problem John with treating that or allowing that to happen and going back to work is you've given the company the right to do it again and the next time they suspend you without pay you may not be able to do anything about it you may be better off to treat that as a constructive dismissal and leave with severance so many people employers and employees I'm gonna be surprised to know that a determination or a suspension without pay is illegal is actually a termination if that happens to you I want you to reach out to me one eighty five five eight to one fifty nine hundred is a number employment lawyer dot CA online that is where you go as well the resource to find our radio show how you can catch that and tune in and maybe will call into the show and your call might make it on here on the employment law show we'll get to our first call of the day right now he actually is currently on maternity parental leave and I'm due to come back and to resume my full-time job which I've been there for 16 years now however I was just called in from my employer but a week ago saying that they want to have a meeting with me to discuss the expansion of the department however when I got there for the meeting I was presented with a termination letter without cause as far as I understand the person who had hired or before I left to leave I which I've trained also was hired on as a six-month contract but now she is still there and doing my role someone didn't get the memo don't mess with Mama Joe we talk about maternity leaves parental leaves on our show often and you always ask me do we really need to talk about it this day and age do people not know well right there that message or that call that we got on our radio show tells you that still a lot of employers don't know that that is so illegal no they cannot do that an employer cannot decide that they want to keep the replacement if you're on a parental leave their obligation is very simple they have to let you take the leave and then they have to take you back to the same job the same duties the same pay that you had before you took the leave they cannot do anything else there's no wiggle room there's no exceptions there's no well but none of that so in this situation as I understand that not only is she being let go the company can't even say that oh it was just a big restructuring they simply want to keep her replacement what she trained right that's ridiculous that's illegal that is a human rights violation that's a violation of the Employment Standards Act and after 16 years not only she's gonna probably be looking at 17 18 months of severance she could be looking at significantly more than that also by way of human rights damages it's illegal so please if you're taking up parental leave whether your mother or a father you have a right to take that leave you have a right to be gone for the period of time but you also have a right to your job your placement cannot be kept over you if it's a restructuring and that the whole department shut down I was gonna ask that's difficult but that is rare John in a message Mike experience even now these days in age we when we're supposed to be more enlightened and knowledgeable I still see situation like that all the time where employers don't bring back person from maternity leave or parental leave that is illegal one of the most basic violations of human rights that we have in this country wonderful new tool out there at sea recent and it's gaining some momentum for sure pocket employment lawyers' a we love this tell me about it Bell I can't talk about it without having a smile on my face because it was so long in the work so so long it took us to put it together I've been I'm very proud of it something that I idea that I came up with a while ago it took us a while to actually bring it to life pocket employment lawyer dot CA to find out your legal rights easy to do free anonymous it takes seconds to do so when you go to pocket employment lawyer dot CA you can choose a number of tools you can find out how much severance you're owed you can find that if you're an independent contractor or an employee if the company has caused to let you go if the company has improperly harassed you if you have an a disability issue all that and more you can do in a pocket employment lawyer dot CA it's like having myself or one of my my lawyers on my team with you at all time in your pocket on your phone on your laptop whatever it is nothing like that exists out there this is not some general information where we tell you here's what I constructive dismissal is no you will answer questions and it will tell you right there have you been constructively dismissed have you been a victim of harassment yes no and why check it out pocket employment lawyer dot CA want to take it out for a spin we're gonna run this scenario through it and I'll get you to comment on Lee or says I'm being bullied relentlessly by a new co-worker who joined us a month ago when I approached my manager I was told that there were personality quirks that I should ignore I've enjoyed my job for the last four years but I feel like my only option now is to quit so workplace harassment obviously is a very serious issue you should never have to suffer from workplace harassment you have a right to a healthier supportive a positive work environment and if your company violates that right that is illegal that's potentially could be a human rights violation it can definitely be a constructive dismissal and this person did the right thing they talk to their boss they talk to their manager and nothing was done about it well now it's time to treat that as a constructive dismissal if you're in that situation let me know call me email me I'll help you deal with it you can also do as we've been saying go to pocket employment lawyer dossier to determine whether what's happening to you is in fact illegal so in the pocket employment lawyer dossier website you will see a tool dealing with workplace harassment you choose you answer some questions it's great so let's plug that information this person's been there for four years he was harassed by a colleague on professional treatment as the type of harassment she asked for help well the result that we get there is yes this is inappropriate workplace harassment it assessed that information and determined yes this is inappropriate now that you know that it's inappropriate you know what to do you can contact me you can do that by the way directly from Pocket employment lawyer dot CA that's how easy it is to use if you've been wondering was this considered harassment is this something that I can do something about pocket employment lawyer dot CA all right coming up here everything you need to know about the performance improvement plan how does it work well we'll dig down get into that after a short break 185 5-8 to 150 900 to reach out by phone and online employment lawyer employment law can tin use you lost your job they only gave you two weeks of severance per year worked but where can you find out what you're really owed I'm going to severance pay calculator comm find out how much you're owed right now severance pay calculator calm you've been denied long-term disability you think you're powerless but you have a lot more power than you think I'll tell you a secret it's a numbers game for the insurance company they're betting on you walking away from money that they owe you don't make that mistake we resolve disability claims all the time we force insurance to pay what they owe we're in your corner call Savannah and his team one eight five five eight to one fifty nine hundred or go to Disability Rights dot CA you lost your job they said they had a good reason but you think you've been wrongfully dismissed now what are you going to do I'm going to employment lawyer dot CA always check with the employment lawyer first at employment lawyer dot CA [Music] and welcome back employment law she'll 185 5-8 to 150 900 and employment lawyer dot sees where you want to go this is interesting everything you need to know about performance improvement plans this time I'm not on the hot seat you are so I'm gonna ask you the questions and you'll answer them correctly how does that sound I think we could do that okay well what is it what's an implement of performance improvement plan for as the name suggests it's a plan usually put on by an employer for those employees that they consider to be underperforming to allow the employee to get better usually a performance improvement plan is going to outline the reasons for the plan it's going to outline what the goals are so in other words you have to sell this many items or you have to meet these criteria and it's also going to say it sure should say what the company is going to do to help you get there and it's going to give you a timeline so you have to do this by March the 1st or August the 2nd whatever it is so a performance improvement fund is a tool used by employers to bring along those employees that they feel are lacking or falling behind the thing is about it that's not always legitimate it's not always put in for good reason and I get a lot of questions often from individuals that have been put on a performance improvement plan no wanting to know what to do it's never a pleasant thing no one's ever said yeah I'm so happy gosh darn it I've been put on a performance improvement plan that's amazing no it's a stressful thing it's no one likes to have that to have that happen so we're gonna talk a bit about what to do if you're ever in that situation what you mentioned is stressful so at me as an employee what do I do if I disagree with the plan well that's the thing oftentimes people may tell me that you know it's not accurate it says that I've been doing things that I'm not or that I'm not doing things that I am well my answer is very simple well you have to say so you can't just be taking it and accepting it and being silent being silent is the same as saying I accept I agree if you don't agree with the performance improvement plan you have to say so when you have to say so in writing you don't agree send an email always in writing if it's not in writing it doesn't exist and tell your employee employer you said that I haven't been doing these three things well here's here's how what I've been doing and here's the documents that prove that or you're saying that I haven't been on the Smith project well here's the work that I've been doing on the Smith project now it's okay it's okay to acknowledge the things that you may have done wrong and things you can improve on but if there's something in the performance improvement plan that's not complete that's not accurate that's not fair you have to say so by saying so you're gonna make it that much harder and the company to rely on the performance improvement plan if down the road they want to let you go everything you need to know about foremost about performance improvement plans that's what we're talking about today you want to reach out 185 5/8 to 159 hundred what if the employee still disagrees with the improvement plan decides not to protest it they just quietly go by bad call that is a very bad thing to do as I said if you are silent if you don't do anything maybe you don't wanna make your employer upset so you're not gonna say anything it's exactly the same as if you've said yes I agree I accept it the problem with that is down the road if the company wants to let you go and they said well we put her on a performance improvement plan and you didn't meet those targets it's gonna be very difficult to say well wait a second that performance improvement plan was not correct was not accurate it said that I was doing things that I wasn't well why didn't you tell us back then so if you want to make your lot or your company's job more difficult in terminating you if you want to make your job security security to be your stronger you have to respond you have to put that in writing you have to tell the company why you disagree with it if you're not sure how to do that if you're not sure the right tone to take and doing that let me know as long as it's in writing as long as it's professional you can't go wrong you know you said a couple minutes ago that it could be very stressful if you're singled out and put on a performance improvement plan so what if the extras' gets to an extreme level can an employee say going to medical leave absolutely so in some situation maybe it's triggered by the performance improvement fine or it could be other reasons workplace stress it's a real thing especially these days when everything moves so fast if you feel you can't work if your doctor agrees with you that you cannot work you can go off on a medical leave and you don't have to tell the company why you're not there what the condition is they don't have to know that it's workplace stress as long as the doctor says you can't work you you can go off work and the company can't use that against you they can't say what we put on a performance improvement plan and you didn't meet the targets because you weren't here no that would be illegal that's a human rights violation so whether you are in a performance improvement plan or not if you can't work if there's something medical that's preventing you from working whether it's depression anxiety bad back bad hip whatever it is as long as the doctor backs you up you can be off work as long as you need to and the company can't do anything about it and they can't point to the performance improvement plan to try to let you go while you're off work the key to that is the doctor right you're no way special medical notation right it's not enough for you to say I can't work it's not enough for you to say I want time off your doctor has to agree with you you need to provide something from your doctor but the key to remember is there's no time limit you could be off for a day you could be off for a year anything in between as long as the doctor supports you you could be off everything you need to know about performance improvement plans reaching out 185 5/8 to 150 900 and employment lawyer dossier employment employee is on the performance improvement plan fails the plan doesn't reach the targets can they be let code without severance for cause and that's often what an employer is gonna try to do so they're gonna put you on a performance improvement plan and if you don't meet all those targets and say well we gave you an opportunity we told you what you needed to do you didn't so we're gonna let you go and by the way that's for cost termination they'll say no severance for you not so fast not even close the fact that you may not have had great performance the fact that you were put on a performance improvement plan does not mean you could be let go for cause I said that on an earlier show that we did it's very difficult to terminate for cause and you being on a performance improvement fund does not mean you could be let go for cause the company would have have to show that you've done something so bad so awful that essentially you were deliberately doing a bad job in order to get terminated maybe then it's caused short of that bad performance inadequate performance not meeting the targets is not cause you're still gonna be owed your full severance that said you never want to even engage in that battle which is why I say if you can always respond to the performance improvement plan that way the company doesn't think even of trying to let you go for cause at what point during this whole process is it a smart idea for someone to reach out and contact you honestly as soon as you put on the Foreman's Improvement Plan that you disagree with if it's something that you agree if it's legitimate probably not much that I can do but if it's a performance improvement plan that you don't think it's accurate you don't think it's fair or maybe you you think it's being done in bad faith maybe you got a new boss that's trying to push you out it's putting out a performance improvement plan seen that before you want to reach out to me we need to strategize how to respond when you're the strategize as to maybe there's someone else we can talk to over and above the managers responsibility maybe an HR person or someone more senior then we can let them know hey here's what's going on this person is picking on me so if you've been putting on a performance improvement plan that you don't agree with that you don't think is legitimate you want to reach out to me as soon as possible one eighty five five eight two one fifty nine hundred and employment lawyer dot CA to reach online that is also where you find our radio show as I mentioned earlier second call from the show on this show right now I have a girlfriend of mine that works as a Sales Supervisor a new district manager was appointed to their area now after this manager came on board they gave my girlfriend a notice of termination effective immediately the reason they gave believe it or not she was sitting on a counter swinging her feet that's not grounds for dismissal they only gave her one week's pay after she had been there for almost a year she's doing this yeah yeah come on seriously really what so we're making fun of that but here's the interesting thing is interesting about this is as silly as that isn't and that's objectively silly there's nothing illegal about it she can be let go for swinging her feet or not swinging her feet enough as long as as long as she gets paid her severance okay so the question is not so much is it a legitimate reason for swinging your feet that's silly I can't believe I'm actually saying that silly as it may be they can let her go they can you know what's my my example I like love to use you drive a blue car sorry we like people that drive red cars but you go out you go no one's gonna do that I hope but an employer can do that as long as they pay severance so the question here is how much severance they give her a week's pay after a year of service spoiler alert even close to being enough so rather than me tell you exactly how much is owed let's take that information and plug that into Pocket employment lawyer dot CA so you can see how easy it is so we're gonna go to pocket employment lawyer dot CA choose our severance calculator function plug that information she's a supervisor one year of service I picked an age let's say she's 43 she was given one week's pay severance a calculator and pocket employment lawyer dot CA correctly assesses her as being old four to six months pay depending on our compensation that could easily be twenty thousand thirty thousand dollars more four to six months paid John even after only working there for a year that is correct so it's not a week's pay she's been wrongfully dismissed but not because of swinging her legs because of the fact that she's owed a lot more severance than one week's pay coming up here downsizing an independent contractor will tackle that after the break one eighty five five eight to one fifty nine hundred an employment lawyer say the employment continues hang around for who anywhere you were being harassed and when you said something about it you're the one who lost your job now what are you gonna do I'm going to employment lawyer CA always check with the employment lawyer first at employment lawyer dot CA insurance companies deny long term disability claims all the time they give lots of excuses don't give up I've seen at all they've ignored your doctors they've ignored you you're angry and you're frustrated but there's hope we resolve disability claims all the time we force insures to pay what they owe we're in your corner van and his team one eight five five eight to one fifty nine hundred or go to Disability Rights dot CA you thought you had a secure job you didn't see it coming now what do you do I'm going to employment lawyers' ei always check with the employment lawyer first at employment lawyer CA [Music] and welcome back bloom in la show it's John Scoles Leora same fear this is the part of the show where we bounce over the radio show and give you a taste of what happens there every week phone calls lots of them come through we like to talk about on this show the next phone call that we're gonna play is come up well right now I'm actually calling for a friend she worked for this company for a little over a year they're downsizing and no longer needed her services and because she was an independent contractor she's not entitled to any severance what's your take on that the old independent contractor excuse John probably one of the the things that I have to deal with most often as in being an employment lawyer is determining whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor because as our regular viewers know people get misclassified all the time and I do mean all the time it's so often that someone is treated on paper or called on paper independent contractor but they are an employee so if you have a regular job if you go to work come home come back the next day do the same thing you are an employee I don't care how you pay your taxes I don't care if you have your own company I don't care if you signed a piece of paper that says you're an independent contractor I don't even care if you charged tax HSD don't care the law determines that if you look like an employee and act like an employee you are an employee and why is that important well if you are an employee in the eyes of the law you have the rights of every other employee vacation pay overtime pay holiday paying minimum wage and of course severance if you lose your job the big issue that I see often is independent contractors quote-unquote losing their job companies saying oh well you're an independent contractor we don't have to pay you anything but really their employees they're owed severance could be as much as two years pay so one of the nice neat tools in pocket employment lawyers' ei is the tool that allows you to determine whether you're an independent contractor or an employee again you can find right on right on pocket employment lawyer that's they find out yourself if you've always wondered hey am I really an independent contractor or an employee you find that out right now so let's go to pocket employment lawyer dossier let's plug this information based on this call so this person didn't work exclusively for the company the company determined their hours they didn't have to pay their own expenses the pocket employment Lord see the result we see on the screen right now yes it's very likely that you're actually an employee and not an independent contractor it's as simple as that works just the same for you if you're not sure you can always call me but always absolutely just as easy on the weekend at night anytime pocket employment lawyer dot seeing well we always save it is that simple nobody in the planet would ever hire anybody why we're going to pay severance absolutely and vacation paying overtime and all those pesky entitlements that employers and employees have here no they wouldn't pay that so it's not that simple if you look like an employee and behaves like an employee it's an employee one eighty five five eight to one fifty nine hundred again the number to reach out employment lawyer dot say there's also termination questions dot CA that is where you input your question and it gets answered rather quickly by Lee or member of his team first one for today as follows my friend says after being worked for a off work for more than a month due to stress I had no choice but to return after my Ltd claim was denied despite support from my doctor another employee just told me they overheard a meeting where my termination was discussed what do I do well there's a number of things we need to break down here and kind of assess so first of all if you've been cut off from your disability but you can't work when you feel you can't work and your doctor supports you then you shouldn't have been cut off your disability to be different to begin with that's illegal and and you know this we do another show and a disability law show that discusses these issues happens all the time so the first thing we need to do is deal with your insurance company they should not have cut you off so we could do one of two things either get them to reinstate you once they realize how a cow that we've been called on it or get your compensation so right off the bat that's the first issue and you should not have to make your situation worse your medical condition worse by going back to work when you're not ready when you're not physically able now beyond that if you are back to work and you're still unable to work your your maybe need some accommodation you're still dealing with your medical condition you cannot be let go because of that reason that is illegal your company cannot do that under any circumstances so in this situation it does seem based on this question that you read that this person their term maybe contemplated because you're on a medical leave or or they took a medical leave and they're still struggling that's illegal so severance would have to be paid but there could be human rights damages bottom line is this if you've been cut off disability before you're ready to come back to work that is illegal we need to deal with your insurance company and your employer can't take advantage of that situation they also can't say you've been cut off disability them must mean you can come back to work come back to work or else no if doctor says you cannot work that begins and ends there with your employer as well as well as your insurance company we'll get another one here quickly termination questions coms second one is is this I just found out that our office is closing in one month I won't receive any severance even though I've been working at the location for the past eight years the company still operates two other offices in the province shouldn't I receive something yeah absolutely so let's be very clear if you've been let go with one month's notice that month's notice does count towards your entitlement but if this person has been there for eight years they could be out ten months of notice or severance if they received one month's notice that the company or their location doesn't exist anymore then they're all the difference okay so so that's not even an issue they'll have to get that paid the company will have to compensate them for that now if the company is legitimately out of business its bankrupt it's out of money well you can't get blood from a stone but this is a situation where the company is still operating so the fact that the company may have shut down the location where you're working does not mean you're not going to get paid you will get paid and that notice counts towards your entitlements but it's not your full entitlements go to pocket employment lawyer dot CA and before you walk off into the sunset before you assume that you're not owed something you may have significant entitlements you want to reach out to me as soon as possible talk to me talk to a member of my team don't find out when it's too late that back two and a half years ago you would have been owned months and months of pay we've had that happen on the radio show often I speak with people all the time that watch this show they realize they have entitlements but by then it's too late I hate those situations there's a two-year limitation period don't ever walk away from your rights because if you do by the time you realize you've done so it's too late so if you know somebody they lost your job their company's closing you have to talk to do the same reach out to me go to pocket employment lawyer dot CA reach out to another lawyer if you don't like me but you have to do something employment lawyer dot CA and finally the number again 185 five eight to one fifty nine hundred do not hesitate to reach out to lea and as he mentioned several times we ran through examples it's new and it's awesome pocket employment lawyer dot C until next time we'll catch you right here the employment Lhasa [Music] closed captioning of this program is brought to you in part by severance pay calculator comm find out how much you are owed right now severance pay calculator comm