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Suspension vs termination
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Suspension vs termination
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
One of my staff was recently caught in an e-mail scandal of sorts: She forwarded e-mail jokes to other employees (often without reading them first) and they in turn sent jokes back to her. Our company
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Suspension vs termination
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/4/1999 3:58 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 7/4/1999 Last: 7/6/1999 |
One of my staff was recently caught in an e-mail scandal of sorts: She forwarded e-mail jokes to other employees (often without reading them first) and they in turn sent jokes back to her. Our company, by the way, has NO WRITTEN OR FORMAL POLICY regarding e-mail in any form.
After being directed by our corporate office to terminte my staff memeber, I negotiated this down to a three day unpaid suspension. I still believe thta one cannot suspend someone from work without pay without having a formal policy in play that has been violated. This employee is a good employee who believe she was acting according to policy because there wasn't one. I'm going to go through with the suspension, but I think I'm breaking a law. By the way, the company is in Illinois . . .can anyone offer insight? |
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/5/1999 6:45 PM EDT
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Posts: 833
First: 6/11/1999 Last: 8/23/2001 |
Unless there's a quirky Illinois state employment law about policies, or you have a bargaining agreement with your employees, you are not bound by anything, so long as your actions are based on non-discriminatory reasons. Without the above situations, you could have terminated the employee.
For consistency's sake, it's always better to have a policy; you're problem may arise the next time it happens with another employee - you may be bound by the actions you took in this instance, or prove that there was a bona fide reason for treating someone else who does the same thing in a different manner. Before the next time happens, develop an e-mail, internet, and file-transfer policy, and have it "blessed" by your attorney -- not only for harassment and time-wasting considerations, but also to guard against e-mail or file-borne viruses. |
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/5/1999 11:03 PM EDT
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Posts: 946
First: 6/14/1999 Last: 12/14/2005 |
Does your company have a "progessive discipline" policy? Suspension without pay on first occurrence, especially without a formal policy, and without it being an infraction that an employee would know is wrong without being told (e.g., theft of company policy, or striking a supervisor or co-worker) -- suspension is a pretty strong, non-progressive discplinary step for first occurrence. If you have a progressive disicipline policy, then your management should be following it. Of course, the policy should contain a recognition that steps can be modified or bypassed based upon the particular situation since a policy cannot accurately address ALL employee behavior in the future under ALL circumstances (your policy or managerial training should set out factors to consider in disciplining). From my 20 years experience in HR and employee discipline, even with today's concern about non-authorized e-mail, based upon what you said, I don't see this as a first offense warranting suspension---counseling, maybe warning. Of course, like everything else, the devil's in the details because you don't identify what the e-mail content was. If it was threatening violence slandering co-workers or supervisors/managers, urging "insurrection" against the company, or blatant pornography, then a suspension may be appropriate because I think most people would agree that employees should known those types of behavior are unacceptable, even outside of e-mail. |
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/6/1999 11:55 PM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 7/4/1999 Last: 7/6/1999 |
Thanks for the response! The e-mail was some sexually SLIGHTLY offensive humor that had been sent to the employee from outside the company. In many cases, the jokes were passed on without being read by the employee. There is no insubordination or ill will attached to this employee's actions. A number of her peers,in fact, had asked that they be included on the joke list to receive these as a stress reliever. By the way, the employee never disclosed others involved, and left yesterday very depressed and hurt. I feel awful. ANd I don't think the punishment is suited to the crime:this was way to heavy handed and disturbingly mean spirited for me. It makes me wonder if I want to work there anymore (I'm home on my lunch hour so I'm not sending this from work.Big Brother may be watching . . .)
XTINA |
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/7/1999 12:36 AM EDT
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Posts: 11
First: 6/16/1999 Last: 4/21/2010 |
I believe it's important to take a stong stance with regard to offensive e-mails but....I also think it's important that the organization define their position in writing so that all employees understand your behaviorial expectations. Discharge seems overly harsh and frankly since there was no previous communication regarding expectations, so does suspension (although it's unclear whether or not there was a complaint by someone who recieved the e-mail). There's probably no way to get this cat back into the bag but....I'd suggest 1) purging the suspension documentation from the employees file as soon as you can ethically get away with it, 2) adding language (quickly) in your employee handbook with regard to your behavior expectations on this subject and 3) be generous in granting o/t or paid time off to the employee in an attempt to make up the 3 days pay. |
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Suspension vs termination
posted at 7/12/1999 3:27 AM EDT
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Posts: 2217
First: 6/16/1999 Last: 12/13/2001 |
Without, for a moment, considering whether it is a good idea from an HR point of view, your company can terminate/suspend/demote, etc. an at-will employee for any reason, good or bad, other than an illegal reason. As always, while easy to recite, the employment at will ("EAW") doctrine leaves questions unanswered.
For example, in this case, has any other employee ever passed along an inappropriate e-mail? If so, what punishment, if any, did the employee receive? How offensive was it, compared to what you explain is the " sexually SLIGHTLY offensive humor" passed along by the employee in your situation? One can imagine scenarios where an employee could argue that the employer's motive was discriminatory, not preventing inappropriate e-mails. Consider, however, a slightly following hypothetical. The Company takes no (or very mild) disciplinary action regarding this employee, and a different employee distributes another inappropriate e-mail. Hopefully, in the meantime, an appropriate e-mail policy has been distributed. Even so, by taking little or no disciplinary action now, the Company risks an argument by the second employee that they were punished more severely for an inappropriate reason. Probably the best solution is a well-considered e-mail policy (reviewed by an attorney familiar with Illinois law), fairly administered. |
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