Although there are no guarantees that an employee won't sue you, employers are smart to figure out why discipline problems occur and eliminate them before it comes to termination. The top causes of discipline problems are lack of consideration of employees by employers and lack of recognition of employees by employers.

When handling infractions, managers should document all infractions, warnings, recommendations for changing behavior, employee accounts of incidents, and verbal agreements between the employee and the manager. Additional suggestions:

Make sure disciplinary procedures are carried out uniformly for all employees.

Make sure the employee involved gets due process and that his or her side of the story is heard.

Avoid diagnosing a problem, such as alcoholism or drug abuse, in documenting an infraction or confronting an employee.

Document the negative impact the employee's behavior had on the workplace.



In addition, make sure the employee understands that the responsibility for correcting their behavior is theirs, not the organizations. Be clear what improvements are expected of them and when probation begins. Let an employee know when a problem is escalating so they understand "that they're really terminating themselves."