Development of Disciplinary Policies

Any organization that has employees, whether a private business or a governmental agency, should anticipate the need for employee discipline. Often avoided, a discipline is a tool to correct conduct that is inconsistent with employer expectations, and to create a record that efforts were taken to place an employee on notice and provide an opportunity for course correction. At N. Stotler Law, we will be able to help you develop and implement disciplinary policies within your organization. Attorney Stotler can help you develop a policy to ensure that your employees understand expectations and potential disciplinary actions, and even oversee disciplinary processes, for union, non union, public and private workforces.

Why do you need set disciplinary policies for your organization?

Every business or government agency must have a policy for employee disciplinary procedures. These policies will serve as tools for both employees and management on a number of levels within the organization.

For both legal and practical reasons, employee discipline should be confined to:

• Verbal warnings
• Written warnings
• Letters of suspension
• Termination if necessary

Organizational disciplinary policies should be clearly defined and documented. This will leave little question as to whether or not you, as a manager, are consistently administering discipline when necessary. The details of every disciplinary policy will vary between organizations, but a simplified overview of most policies includes:

• Specifying actions or behavior to be corrected and how corrective action will be undertaken. This can be accomplished through verbal and then written declarations.
• If there is little or no improvement, suspending an employee without pay for a short period of time may be necessary, and providing due process, where required.
• Varying types of employee improvement plans may be advisable depending on the offense, employee improvement, and the culture of the organization.
• Ultimately, termination of the employee may be required and there are strategic and legal considerations in this process.

When there is a clear organization disciplinary policy in place, it is vital that the system is followed. Managers should be cautioned against skipping or ignoring any defined policies to ensure that every employee is treated fairly, consistently and that there is no actual or perceived discrimination in the application of disciplinary measures.

Call us for a consultation of your disciplinary policies today

If you need assistance with developing disciplinary policies within your organization, you need to speak to an attorney as soon as possible. At N. Stotler Law, we will be able to review your organization and tailor disciplinary policies that meet your needs. Attorney Stotler has extensive experience developing disciplinary policies within various types of organizations, including businesses and municipalities. When you need advice on disciplinary policies or on a specific disciplinary matter, in or outside of Pennsylvania, you can contact us for a consultation of your case by clicking here or calling 724-841-5565.