verbal warning

sohappytobe

Silly question, but should a verbal warning be documented? If not, what proof is there that there was ever a verbal warning. If so, then isn't it a written warning?

Hunter1

Nope, documentation doesn't make a verbal into a written. Yes, it should be documented, by all means. Document it as a verbal.

ray a

I have supervisors email me a notification of a verbal warning telling the problem and what the ee is expected to do. That goes into their file as documentation. Written warnings are written by myself on a designated form. This differentiates the two. Supervisors can do verbals on their own, written and higher are done only with my involvement.

marc

We document ours. But at a minimum the supervisor should jot something down on their calendar or some other place to track such things. It is a part of our progressive discipline policy. The stages are coaching, verbal warning(s), written warning(s), suspension, and termination. If the breach is severe enough, we can jump any step or steps along the way, all the way up to termination.

deniseE

two words.

PAPER TRAIL

without this, you have no proof of escalating discipline problems and then when you believe you've reached the point of termination, you find that while you have enough in your head to support it-you don't have enough on paper.

Our verbal warnings have a form for managers/supervisors to complete. Date/time/infraction/and expectation for improvement. The employee also has to sign the form indicating that he/she is aware that this was a verbal coaching and that the next step is a written warning.

One of the biggest hurdles in either UC complaint or a Human Relations complaint is proving that the employee knew for which infraction they were being reprimanded and what the employer expected to see as an improvement. We've learned the hard way that by documenting each of the coachings and requiring that the employee sign to verify that they received the coaching (not that they necessarily agree with it) then we have tangible proof of our position and we're not placed in the "he said she said" game.

Don D

This is why some progressive discipline systems refer to them all now as step 1, 2, 3, etc. instead of verbal, counseling, written 1, written 2, penultimate, last chance and one more last chance. The documented counseling or documented verbal plays just as important a role in the overall process and the last step before stepping off the edge of the cliff. They're all verbal, one assumes, since discussion took place, or should have. The verbals are also written, since they are reduced to writing, even if in email. Semantics.

Carey

We also document our verbal warnings to prove that it was an actual warning as opposed to a discussion or counseling session. We provide the documentation to the employee as well, making sure we use the word "warning" and spell out the consequences if the behavior isn't corrected. Then the manager keeps it in his file and I keep a copy in the Employee Relations file (not the official personnel file). If the situation goes to a written warning, then I pull out the verbal documentation and include it with the written as back up and they both go into the personnel file.

Hatchetman

It's a semantics game. If your policy allows for verbal warnings, without anything beging given to the emplyee, then that's why your policy is.

Otherwise, I don't believe in verbal warnings as such, unless you are saying it is something different than a written warning (bsides that it is not in writing). If your policy is to have3 written warnings, and a supervisor comes along and says they sisued a "verbal warning:, then it isn't a warning at all because under your policy, warnings have to be in writing -- which means a copy given to the employee.

If th supervisor maintains some type of desk folder on emplyees and wants to keep notes fo conferences, etc., for evaluation writing later, then the notation that on such and such a date the emplyee was given a verbal warning about "x", wouldn't make it a traditional written warning; a verbal warning hen in that case wouldn't have the "weight" of a written warning.