San Diego employers should have consistent policies for the discipline of employees and pay close attention to managerial communications throughout the disciplinary process. A checklist is often the best place to start and another form of documentation for the file.
Do you Have an Employee Entering the Discipline Process?
We help to ensure that your corporate policies and procedures are updated, as well as employee handbooks and when necessary employment related contracts. Tightening procedural documentation and communicating clear, consistent messaging to your staff can prevent expensive and time consuming litigation.
Strict consistent policies for the discipline of employees ensure that outside issues are not able to cloud performance related concerns. It is possible to provide a track for performance improvement to encourage under-performing employees. It is also possible to establish clear performance benchmarks and move an employee through a process designed to bring them back into acceptable performance metrics. However, this is also a process that might lead ultimately to termination. There is no reason to fear California’s courts, however it is important to respect the risks involved and the substantial costs that accompany employee-related litigation and even unemployment claims.
Checklists and Consistent Policies for the Discipline of Employees
The San Diego employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm have more than 40 years of experience as business attorneys here in San Diego and Southern California. We help our clients to develop and implement checklists and consistent policies for the discipline of employees. There are a lot of “protected categories” here in California and once an employee has received a verbal warning or written notice they are often coached to look for an illegal act or retaliation on the part of you, the employer, in order to pursue other legal remedies.
This is not a game. Your goal is simply to get work accomplished and fulfill the mission at hand. Unfortunately, California has created an environment that makes it too easy for an employee to manipulate the process for legal and financial gain.
This is about a fair, even-handed process. This is not emotional, this is business. However, it is important to understand that our Courts and Unemployment administrative Judges tend to look for any potential crack in the process of disciplinary actions and/or firings. The Watkins Firm has helped our clients by actually managing the process of terminating an employee or group of employees. Let us manage the questions, the process and ultimately protect your legal and financial interests as an employer.
Anytime an employee is entering the discipline process, employers should be ready for other issues to surface as a defensive mechanism. This is often a time when issues such as accusations of unpaid overtime, issues surrounding meal and break periods or even discrimination or retaliation are brought into the mix. The key is to separate the disciplinary process from other issues so that performance metrics are not confused with other areas of dispute.
There has been a rapid rise in employee related litigation for San Diego employers in the past five years. The employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm have helped our clients to adjust to the rapidly changing work environment, and to integrate new employer-related laws and regulations such as those addressed in our recent podcasts episodes 41 and 42 – Employment Law Updates for 2024. There is a lot to keep track of and 2024 has brought as many changes for employers as we have seen in quite a while.
We invite you to review our podcast episode 41 – Employer Updates for 2024 as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today. Let us review your employment practices, policies, procedures, employee handbooks, checklists and employment contracts to ensure compliance with California, federal and local laws and ordinances. Together, we will establish a system that encourages and rewards employee performance, while providing fair, consistent policies for the discipline of employees at your company.
