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What Every Manager Needs to Know about Progressive Discipline Employee Discipline Basics (Not the S&M Kind). William E. O’Gara, Esq. Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC 317 Iron Horse Way, Suite 301 Providence, RI 02908. Concept Behind Progressive Discipline. Bird in the hand
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What Every Manager Needs to Know about Progressive Discipline Employee Discipline Basics (Not the S&M Kind) William E. O’Gara, Esq. Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC 317 Iron Horse Way, Suite 301 Providence, RI 02908
Concept Behind Progressive Discipline • Bird in the hand • Employee may lack basic understanding of rules – progressive discipline puts person on notice • Concept of fairness – person was given warning • Employer has given person opportunity to correct behavior
Progressive Discipline Critical in Union Environment • 7 Part Test = Just Cause • Did the Employer give Employee forewarning of possible or probable disciplinary consequence's of behavior? • Was the Employer’s rule reasonably related to efficient operations and performance it should expect of Employee? • Did Employer before disciplining Employee make effort to discover Employee violated rule? • Was the Employer’s investigation fair and objective? • Did investigation uncover substantial evidence that Employee guilty is as charged? • Has the Employer applied rules and penalties evenhandedly? • Was the discipline reasonably related to the seriousness of the Employee’s offense and service to the Employer?
Progressive Discipline is used for less serious infractions – tardiness, carelessness – not used for most serious infractions – stealing, assault … • Verbal Warning • Written warning • Repeat step 2 • Suspension • Termination
Problem with Not Utilizing Progressive Discipline • It never happened – selective recall • It could not have been a big deal – nothing was written up • We are treating people differently and have no records • Courts, Administrative Agencies and Arbitrators expect us to follow a procedure • We are the Government – we have the ability to generate a piece of paper to document a problem
In cases where Progressive Discipline followed claims of unfair or illegal treatment fail • Decisions are made based on fairness – where there is a record of warnings and opportunities to correct behavior the Employer wins • Progressive Discipline can correct behaviors and sometimes fix a problem before termination • Arbitrators expect the Employer has attempted to fix the problem before firing