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PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE POLICY



PURPOSE

To establish rules pertaining to employee conduct, performance, and responsibilities so that all personnel can conduct themselves according to certain rules of good behavior and good conduct.

The purpose of these rules is not to restrict the rights of anyone, but rather to help people work together harmoniously according to the standards we have established for efficient and courteous service for our customers.

Reasonable rules concerning personal conduct of employees are necessary if the facility is to function safely and effectively. You will be kept informed of department rules and changes to those rules by your supervisor or department head.

The company believes that you want to, and will, do a good job if you know what is required to perform your job properly. Your supervisor is responsible for ensuring that you know what is expected of you in your job. Further, it is company policy that employees be given ample opportunity to improve in their job performance.


POLICY

Degrees of discipline are generally progressive and are used to ensure that the employee has the opportunity to correct his or her performance. There is no set standard of how many oral warnings must be given prior to a written warning or how many written warnings must precede termination. Factors to be considered are:

How many different offenses are involved
The seriousness of the offense
The time interval and employee response to prior disciplinary action(s)
Previous work history of the employee


EXCEPTIONS

For serious offenses, such as fighting, theft, insubordination, threats of violence, the sale or possession of drugs or abuse of alcohol on company property, etc., termination may be the first and only disciplinary step taken. Any step or steps of the disciplinary process may be skipped at the discretion of [YOUR COMPANY NAME] after investigation and analysis of the total situation, past practice, and circumstances. In general, several oral warnings should, at the next infraction, be followed by a written warning, followed at the next infraction by discharge. This is especially true in those cases where the time interval between offenses is short and the employee demonstrates a poor desire to improve his/her performance.


PENALTIES FOR SPECIFIC OFFENSES

Penalties for Group 1:

First offense: Oral or written reprimand
Second offense: Suspension or termination

Group 1 Offenses include:

Knowingly filling out time sheet of another employee
Having one's sheet filled out by another employee, or unauthorized altering of a time sheet
Being tardy habitually without reasonable cause
Being absent without notification or excuse
Leaving your job or your regular working place during working hours for any reason without authorization from your supervisor, except for lunch, rest periods and going to the restrooms
Disorderly conduct on company property
Immoral conduct or indecency on company property
Leaving work before end of shift or not being ready to go to work at the start of shift
Interfering with the work of other employees
Inefficiency or lack of application of effort on the job
Violations of company policies outlined in sections of this policy manual
Contributing to unsanitary conditions or poor housekeeping
Imperiling the safety of other employees
Malicious gossip and/or the spreading of rumors


Penalties for Group 2: 
 
First offense: Suspension or termination


Group 2 Offenses include:

Gambling on company property
Possession of narcotics, or consuming narcotics on company property
Reporting for work in an intoxicated condition
Responsibility for instigating fighting on company property
Dishonesty or removal of another employee's property or company property without permission
Willful destruction of company property
Insubordination (Refusal to perform service connected with an employee's immediate supervisor or refusal to obey any reasonable order given by an employee's supervisor or by management)
Misrepresentation of physical condition or other important facts in seeking employment
Refusal to perform work assigned to an employee
Absence for two consecutive working days without notification to the company or without acceptable excuse
Petty thievery
Possession of firearms, fireworks or explosives on company property without permission from management





PROBATION

You may be placed on probation in connection with the written warning for a period of time determined by [YOUR COMPANY NAME]. Wage increases, vacations and transfers will not be given during this period, but all other benefits will continue.


INVESTIGATIVE SUSPENSION

An investigative suspension is a period, not to exceed [NUMBER] working days, during which time an employee is relieved of his or her job because of alleged serious misconduct. An employee may be placed on investigative suspension when it is necessary to make a full investigation to determine the facts of the case, as in a fighting, insubordination or theft incident. If after the investigation:

discharge is warranted, the employee shall not be paid for the period of investigative suspension C the discharge shall be effective on the date of the termination interview.
misconduct is determined, but not of a sufficiently serious nature to warrant discharge, the employee shall receive a warning notice and forfeit pay lost as a result of the investigative suspension and may be placed on disciplinary suspension
if no misconduct is determined, the employee shall return to work within the prescribed period and be paid for the time lost as a result of the investigative suspension


DISCIPLINARY SUSPENSION

A disciplinary suspension is a period of not more than [NUMBER] days and may be given in addition to the investigatory suspension or as punishment for the violation. The employee is relieved of his or her job assignment because of serious or repeated instances of misconduct and shall forfeit pay lost as a result of the suspension in situations where there is no specific instance of conduct that is so outrageous that justifies termination but there is a pattern of conduct where the employee has continually engaged in one minor infraction of the rules after another and has received a documented verbal and/or written warning for rule(s) infraction(s). Disciplinary suspension would generally not be used as a form of discipline for employees with attendance problems.


CRISIS SUSPENSION

A crisis suspension is given at the discretion of the supervisor when action must be taken immediately.


DISCHARGE

When the employee is discharged as a result of a serious offense, or as the final step in an accumulation of infractions for which a warning notice or notices have been written, the employee will be discharged for cause instead of being given the option to resign, be laid off, or retire.


MISCONDUCT

[YOUR COMPANY NAME] has a progressive discipline policy. The goal of [YOUR COMPANY NAME]'s progressive discipline system is to give the employee an opportunity to correct employment problems that may arise, rather than to punish employees.

The employee will be kept informed of [YOUR COMPANY NAME]'s rules and the employee is expected to follow them.
IMMEDIATE DISCIPLINARY ACTION

[YOUR COMPANY NAME] believes that engaging in certain types of misconduct should subject an employee to immediate suspension or discharge, rather than allowing opportunity for correction of behavior through progressive discipline steps. The following is a list of conduct for which immediate disciplinary action will be taken: [LIST OF OFFENSES THAT WILL BE EXEMPT FROM PROGRESSIVE STEPS (E.G., VIOLENT BEHAVIOR)]. 


DISCIPLINARY STEPS

Should there be a problem regarding the employee's adherence to [YOUR COMPANY NAME]'s rules, the employee will be given three opportunities to change the unwanted behavior:

1.  The employee will be given a verbal explanation of the errant behavior, including a reiteration of what [YOUR COMPANY NAME]'s rule regarding that behavior is. In addition, the employee will be advised of the consequences of further infractions of the rule in question. If no further problems occur with regard to the issue raised at the verbal warning stage, no further disciplinary action will be taken.

2.  If the problem persists, the employee will be given a written explanation of the errant behavior, including a reiteration of what [YOUR COMPANY NAME]'s rule regarding that behavior is. In addition, the employee will be advised that continuation of the problem will lead to suspension without pay for a stated period of time. As before, the employee will be given an opportunity to change the unwanted behavior and, if the behavior does not recur, no further disciplinary action will be taken.

3.  If verbal and written warnings fail to bring about a change in the undesired conduct, the employee will be suspended and will be informed that further occurrences of the conduct will lead to the employee's immediate discharge, without additional warnings.

[YOUR COMPANY NAME] reserves the right to bypass the disciplinary steps and base its disciplinary action on the severity, frequency or combination of infractions when circumstances warrant immediate action.


DOCUMENTATION

[YOUR COMPANY NAME] will document a disciplinary process beginning with the first verbal warning. A report of the disciplinary action will be retained in the employee's personnel file, however, if no further disciplinary action is required after [NUMBER] years, the report will remain as part of the employee's personnel file but will no longer be considered a part of the employee's record.

Should a challenge arise regarding the disciplinary action in the report, the report may be used in the ensuing grievance proceeding or arbitration.


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