Record of Progressive Discipline

msoto

An employee of our has been verbally warned on various occasions on excessive absenteeism and tardiness. The supervisor issued her a written warning. In the written warning, a company form and a memo address to her were issued. Can she ask for a copy of either such record? Is it safe to give her a copy of either records?

Down_the_Middle

Unless your state has any restrictions to providing employees with copies of their file, I would recommend doing it. I can see no reason for not providing a copy. Failure to do so may lead the person to concluding all sorts of wild things and this can lead to many unintended problems. We give our current employees a copy of everything in their file, upon request, (except employment references) at 25 cents per copy.

Hatchetman

Under California law, an employee has a right to inspect his or her personnel file and a right to a copy of any document that he or she signed -- this could include a copy of the warning notice. If you want to play games, you could charge the employee a reasonable fee for copying the document. But why not just routinely give the employee a copy of a document, such as an evaluation or a disicplinary notice, that goes into his or her personnel file. Remember, there is nothing secret any more (except for letters of reference, reports obtained prior to employment part of an exmination report on the employee--stuff like that). See the California Labor Code Section 1198.5.

System

Yes, I would definitely give her a copy regardless of whether she asked for it.

Attorney John Phillips addressed this question very well in our new Ten Danger Zones training videos for supervisors. In the Documentation tape, he tells supervisors to always have the employee sign disciplinary papers to prove they saw it (not that they agreed with it). And give the employee the chance to write her version of events on the paper. Immediately photocopy it and give her a copy. If all your supervisors follow this procedure, it could help a lot in case of a lawsuit.
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/videos.shtml[/url]

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Theresa Gegen TX

Some states other than California have laws that permit the employees to inspect their personnel files and request corrections or add additional information. I think Washington has such a law (although I am not 100% sure).

If you refuse to give the employee a copy, the employee may think that you are hiding something. Therefore, I would give the employee a copy. The only downside I can think of is if the company actually did something illegal or wrongful and recorded (for example, failed to give FMLA leave and counted FMLA absense or if the forms include comments about the employee that are unrelated to the disciplinary action but may be related to a protected class like age or disability). So before you hand them over you might want to review them. Also review your company policy and see if it says anything about the records.

Good Luck!!

Theresa Gegen
Attorney Editor - Texas
Andrews & Kurth, LLP
Dallas Texas