Writting a Written Warning Letter* Review 8 More Warning Letter Examples * Warning Letter Writing Service * Free Warning Form Use it Free with no obligation! There is no doubt that writing a warning letter in most cases is stressful. Oh yes there are some that deserve it more than others, but the bottom line is that we must treat everyone equally! If you don't you may be at risk for a discrimination law suit! Do you have an extra million in cash lying around to pay off a law suit that is undeserved? Dear Ms. Gina R. Alexander: This is a written warning being issued a for Insubordination. You acknowledged that you were aware of our company policy on insubordination at your orientation on March 3, 2008. You also signed acknowledging that you received a copy of the company employee handbook on that same date which clearly outlines this policy. Specifically, on June 12, 2008, you told your direct supervisor to knock it off when they were trying to correct your performance. Future violations of our policy on insubordination, or any company policy, may result in additional disciplinary action, up to and including, possible termination. Both parties have reviewed this document and agree that its contents fairly reflect their conversation. Barry S. Gonzales 
Every individual is expected to execute their assigned duties as directed during on duty time. Insuring quality in everything we do requires attention to detail and working quickly or carelessly has a negative impact on every aspect of our business. It is also critical to our success that every individual will respect and cooperate with other staff members, customers, and supervisors when performing their assigned duties. In the event there is ever a conflict it is the responsibility of everyone to bring that to the attention of their supervisor for resolution and will not engage with any other individual. It is also important to understand that excessive talking and/or horseplay can distract and place individual’s safety or dignity at risk, decrease productivity, and potentially damage or destroy company property. All individuals are to remain in their assigned work area during duty time. Anyone found to have been acting in a manner that purposely damages or destroys company property will not be tolerated. The above policy is for the safety and welfare of all employees and violations will not be tolerated. This is the Employee Manual Policy Software that I use!. This Software is less than $36 
Professional Easy to Use Written Warning Form * FREE * *Free Form* Make sure you save it to your personal computer! The Best Employee Handbook Software money can buy! Starting at $35 Issuing a warning letter - admonishment - or reprimand - are one of the same - and whatever you like to call it - all part of a good progressive disciplinary program. For the purposes of this discussion we will refer to it as a written warning. Let’s start with the basics - no matter what your progressive disciplinary program is - make sure your employees are aware of it. This can be accomplished easily through an employee handbook - policies and procedures - orientation program - etc. The major key to all of these are that it is a written policy - and that the employee acknowledges through their signature that they have read - understand - and received - a copy of it. BR>
An example of an offense where you may go directly to a written warning - or its equivalent - would be - any form of harassment that is not so severe that it merits immediate termination. Remember to use your fact finding process to determine the severity of the offense. If the employee then violated the sexual harassment policy again within at least one year - even if not severe - would merit strong consideration for termination. An example - would be if an employee had repeatedly asked another employee on a date after the employee clearly indicated they were not interested in doing so. That may merit the first warning or more depending on the facts. This same employee - 8 months later - repeatedly asks a different employee who clearly indicates they are not interested. So even if your progressive disciplinary program states the following - employee counseling - verbal warning - 1st written warning - 2nd written warning - 3rd written warning which equals termination - I would most likely jump right to termination in this example. Any form of discrimination might be another situation where you have to give great consideration to jumping ahead to issuing an immediate written warning - and possibly immediate termination. Remember the reason for disciplinary action is to correct behavior - not punish - or set the example. Although many get this wrong - and those that do get it wrong usually pay a price down the road. What kind of price - generally it is in the form of a decrease in productivity - but in some cases it is in the form of a wrongful discharge claim. One wrongful discharge claim that has merit could result in a stiff monetary penalty in excess of $500K which is a pretty standard amount of settlements. Depending on your policy - I would recommend - that as you consider your progressive disciplinary program - that employee behavior does not have to be for the same thing. Let me give you an example - an employee is tardy and you issue an employee counseling - then two months later the employee is late returning from their scheduled break and you issue a first written warning letter - then one month later the employee is short on their register and you issue the second warning - one month later the employee is tardy again and you issue the third and final written warning… You get the picture… It does not necessarily have to be for the same offense - unless you have put that into your policy. When writing your written warning - stick with the facts only. I would recommend that you clearly identify that it is a written warning - what policy or infraction it is for - give the specifics of the infraction including dates and times - what the correct behavior should be - what the consequences will be if they do not correct the behavior - you sign and date it - they sign in and date it. The last detail that you may need to give consideration to is - what is the time frame from the first stage of the progressive disciplinary process to possible termination? In many organizations - a reasonable time frame is a rolling calendar of 12 months. In others a written warning may stay on an employees record for several years, and sometimes for their entire career. You must use your judgment though - be consistent - and make sure you are checking your facts to determine what course of action you intend to follow. I have attended many unemployment hearings and in all cases I have been required to produce the written warnings issued to the employee. Once I did - the outcome was always the same - our position was upheld. Now of course there was more to the hearing than this - but - it was the foundation. You have a dietitian working in a health care facility that has the responsibility of checking food trays as they are filled. Just before the food tray is placed into the food cart for delivery - they verify that the patient is getting everything they are required - and more importantly - not getting any item they should not. For example if the patient is diabetic and they are getting a food item that they should not - it could be a problem. Another example would be if a patient was not to receive any solid food - and they do - again - may be a problem. In most cases they are the last line of defense. It is a very critical position. So I had a real experience where the dietitian missed checking the tray correctly - and the patient did receive it. Fortunately the nurse in the room happened to notice - and was able to stop the patient from getting the tray. Keep in mind the nurse was not a part of the checks and balances - but it worked out good. In this particular situation - if the patient had received the food tray - they may have had problems digesting the food. This was the first time we were aware of that the dietitian missed a tray. They had been there a little over two years. We also discovered through interviews with other staff that the dietitian would take cell phone calls as she monitored the outgoing trays. After doing a thorough fact finding process we determined the above facts to be accurate. What would you have done - if anything - as it relates to discipline? We determined that this element of their position was critical - that they were not acting prudently by taking cell phone calls during such an important process - leaving patients at potential risk. We issued a written warning. When is it a good time to issue a written warning? If you remember one basic principle as it relates to employee discipline and that is that it is a tool to correct behavior and not to terminate someone! If your goal is to achieve termination then you have most likely failed in so many ways as a leader or manager! Now I am not saying that through the disciplinary process that you will not terminate employees because it will happen. However, I am saying that you should not tolerate poor behavior so long before doing something that your goal is to terminate them. Therefore, if someone is late for work by a few minutes you may give them a pass the first time. Now keep in mind that employees watch what you do to one so the idea is very simple. Make sure you are consistent with your actions. Therefore, if you give one a free pass the first time you need to make sure everyone else gets the same treatment. Now when I use the term free pass I am not telling you to ignore them being late. If they are late make sure you explain to them in private that they were late and I your expectation of their arrival time going forward. I would provide them with an email or some other informal notice so that you have a written record of the conversation. If that same employee is late again or violates a different company rule/policy I would recommend moving to the next level. In my operation we use what is called a written counseling. This is a formal notice in writing on company letter head that explains the violation and how to correct their behavior. It goes on to inform them if they violate another company policy/rule they may be subject to additional discipline up to and including possible termination. If you have already issued a written counseling and they violate another policy I would definitely recommend a written warning. On that written warning I would state the previous counseling and/or any previous written warnings issued within the last year. If the employee would violate your company policy whereby you have to issue three written warnings within a one year time span I would terminate that employee on the third written warning. Of course you must follow the advice of your own legal counselor. Now be careful there is a lot more that goes into this than just issuing a warning. We have a lot of sue happy employees out there and they are just looking for an opportunity to get into your back pocket and take your cash from you. So be extremely fair and consistent with your actions, and always consult your legal representative for advice. An Employee Warning Letter goes hand in hand with An Employee Policy Manual! Issuing an Employee Warning Letter means that you should have a company rule or policy against the behavior that the employee displayed! Secondly this rule or policy should have been disclosed to the individual in some way! That means either you communicated it to them in person during a training session or one on one meeting that has been documented. Or you should have an Employee Policy Manual that you have a record of issuing to them. No you can get away with not having any of the above but it is like speeding down a highway! Most times you will get away with it! But there will be the time that you won't. The only difference is that we are not sure of the consequences until it is too late. An Employee Written Warning is for the sole purpose of correcting behavior! If you are using it for any other reason then you are not fulfilling its intended purpose! Do not use it solely as a tool to terminate the employees you no longer want around! Too many managers wait until they just can't take it anymore and then try to package up everything the employee has done over the last several months and terminate them! Unless you like the inside of a courtroom I would highly recommend that you not do this! But again, first things first! If you don't have the policy or rule no matter how insignificant you think it is in writing you are rolling the dice. A simple Employee Policy Manual that you can produce for under $50 can give you a tremendous advantage. Yes you can go way beyond that amount but I can't say enough about taking the first step in the right direction. I am an affiliate of Standard Legal and I believe in their product. I strongly encourage you to take a look at their basic employee manual software for around $35. It will go a long way to protecting your company. Standard Legal software is produced by Attorney's that have expertise in this area. You're not going to get a better deal from experts. They have all types of packages that can help, but this is one that I recommend you take a serious look at. Again, I am an affiliate for them but I think they have a great product! Don't issue an Employee Warning Letter without an Employee Policy Manual. This Company fully understands and recognizes the value of providing quality service to its customers. To ensure that quality, every associate is required and expected to be at work when scheduled. When an associate is planning to be absent from any portion of a scheduled work day other than for previously scheduled vacation, that associate must notify their Supervisor no less than three (3) days prior to the absence. We also understand that there are unexpected circumstances (emergencies such as a death in the family) that may prohibit your ability to meet this requirement and in those cases it is critical that you present your request at the very earliest opportunity. When an associate is unexpectedly unable to report to work, or is going to be late, that associate must contact their supervisor no later than two hours prior to the time that the associate is scheduled to be at work. Failure to notify your supervisor of such absence may result in disciplinary action. When an associate experiences unscheduled absences on consecutive days, that associate must contact their supervisor each day. Failure to notify your supervisor may result in disciplinary action. Failure to notify your supervisor for three (3) consecutive workdays will be considered your voluntary resignation. Written medical verification authorizing you to return to work will be required of any associate that exceeds an unscheduled absence for two (2) consecutive workdays. Tardiness will not be tolerated. There is no grace period. Excessive tardiness may result in disciplinary action being taken. An associate will not be paid for the time he or she is tardy to work. Absences for a death in the associate's immediate family (spouse, child, parent or grandparent), illness with a doctor's excuse or verifiable auto accident may be deemed "excused" absences by the Company for which no disciplinary action will be taken. I used Standard Legal to Assist me in Writing this Sample Policy. This Software is less than $36
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