Fill and Sign the Disciplinary Procedures Form

This is a model policy. Every company will have different requirements for its disciplinary policy. Review this policy carefully and modify to suit your situation. Company Disciplinary Policy and Procedures Effective Date:       Revisions: Text is current. See, “Appendix A: Documentation of Revisions” for revision history. POLICY Company attempts to provide Regular Classified Staff employees who violate policies or exhibit unsatisfactory job performance an opportunity to comply with Company contractual requirements by means of progressive disciplinary actions. Employees are expected to abide by the established rules and policies of their departments. To enable them to do this, Supervisor must develop clear and reasonable departmental policies and performance expectations, investigate the circumstances of apparent policy or rule violations or unsatisfactory performance and take disciplinary action, and ensure that prompt, consistent disciplinary action is administered. The intent of this policy is to use a series of progressive disciplinary actions when appropriate as a means to assist and encourage employees to correct their conduct and to achieve satisfactory work performance. Particular circumstances may, in some cases, be exceptional or singular and the related disciplinary actions shall be tempered or expanded because of the facts of the situation. Violations of the Company rules against discrimination and sexual harassment and/or departmental rules or policies may result in specific disciplinary measures, including immediate discharge. PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE Progressive discipline is a series of disciplinary actions, corrective in nature, taken to provide regular staff employees the opportunity to improve job performance and comply with Company policies. Such actions may range from counseling/coaching, verbal and/or written warnings, disciplinary probation/disciplinary suspension without pay, to discharge, as deemed appropriate by the responsible administrator. If Supervisor sees company rules or policies are serious enough to warrant immediate specific disciplinary measures outside of progressive discipline, including termination with or without cause. Where "serious violations" are referenced in this manual, "serious violations" shall be those acts of serious misconduct, or conduct which could result in injury or loss of life, limb, or property, or impairment of Company operations, or disregard of the Company policies on sexual harassment, falsifying services not rendered or the Company Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action rules and guidelines. PROCEDURES Counseling/coaching is the most common method employed for assisting the employee to improve work performance or comply with rules and policies. Counseling or coaching should be a cooperative attempt at determining and correcting the problem. With the exception of serious failures to conform to rules and/or policies, as determined by the responsible administrator, disciplinary actions will occur only after counseling/coaching efforts have been unsuccessful. Responsible administrators are encouraged to keep notes of such counseling/coaching efforts. Warnings may be either verbal or written. A verbal warning from the Supervisor is used for more serious errors, failure to meet job requirements or violations of rules and/or policies, as determined by the responsible administrator, or when a verbal warning has not produced satisfactory results. Either type of warning shall specify problem(s) and what action is required to correct it. The Supervisor who issues a verbal warning shall maintain notes of the date and contents of the discussion and shall advise the employee that a record is being maintained. A written warning shall explicitly state that it is a "written warning" and shall specify that further disciplinary action will ensue if the employee fails to achieve a satisfactory level of performance. A written warning shall also include notice to the employee that it is subject to the dispute resolution procedure, if applicable. A copy shall be sent to the employee’s personnel file. Disciplinary actions are of two types, disciplinary probation and disciplinary suspension, and shall be used when a prior warning does not produce satisfactory results in correcting behavior which is not in compliance with Company rules of conduct or uncorrected performance deficiencies, or when the responsible administrator determines that a violation of a rule and/or policy is serious enough to warrant such action without prior use of less severe discipline. Disciplinary probation shall be for a non-specified period of time during which time the employee's performance or behavior shall be closely monitored in an effort to effect improvement or change. Disciplinary probation is usually applicable to unsatisfactory job performance or dependability problems, such as unsatisfactory attendance, and carries an implied obligation to retain the employee for the duration of the period of disciplinary probation. If, however, new problems arise during a disciplinary probation period or performance significantly declines during this period, immediate discharge may occur. Disciplinary probation shall be initiated by memorandum to the employee that explicitly contains the following: 1. Inclusive dates of probation period if warranted. 2. Specific nature of problem(s) resulting in probation, if warranted, including specific examples of incidents for each problem. 3. Corrective action required, including specific and reasonable standards related to the deficiencies outlined in #2, above. Can be verbal. 4. The consequences of failure to correct the problem(s) within the disciplinary probation period or notice of pending termination. 5. Notice that immediate discharge may occur if new performance deficiencies arise within the disciplinary probation period. A copy of this memorandum shall be maintained in employee’s file. Disciplinary suspension, if needed , is the temporary release from duty of a regular staff employee for up to 30 calendar days without pay and is applicable when the responsible Supervisor determines that a violation(s) or repetition of violation(s) of Company and/or departmental rules and policies are serious enough to warrant suspension. This action shall be preceded by a pre-suspension without pay meeting in accordance with Company Policy herein. No written notice of disciplinary suspension is necessary. Verbal notice shall be given the employee with a copy to employee’s file and shall include the following: 1. Reason for the disciplinary suspension. 2. Reference to and conclusions drawn from the pre-suspension meeting. 3. Inclusive dates of suspension duration. 4. Employee's right to appeal the action through the Staff Dispute Resolution Procedure. 5. Advice to employee that failure to return to work on the first scheduled workday following the suspension will result in discharge. Discharge is the involuntary termination (other than a Layoff/Reduction in Force) of an employee by a responsible administrator. The discharge of a non-probationary employee shall not occur unless there is a serious violation(s) or repeated violation(s) of Company, and/or departmental rules or policies, or uncorrected failure to meet job requirements. A predischarge meeting shall be scheduled and shall precede the decision to discharge a non-probationary employee. Prior to initiating the discharge of a non- probationary employee, the responsible administrator shall notify the appropriate authority in accordance with Company Policy (Predischarge/Presuspension Without Pay meeting/Meeting Policy) herein. If circumstances do not permit contacting the appropriate authority, or time does not permit proper assessment of the incident or the employee's past record, the employee may be placed on disciplinary suspension. Following the above, the affected employee shall be notified verbally of: 1. The reason for discharge. 2. The effective date of discharge. The appropriate payroll documents shall be processed in a sufficiently timely manner to ensure that any discharged employee receives all wages due within the next regular payday. APPENDIX A: Documentation of Revisions