Properly Documenting Employee Disciplinary Actions

Ensure that your institution’s leaders understand how to thoroughly document disciplinary actions taken against employees.

When litigation occurs against your college or university, judges, juries, and administrative agencies expect employment decisions to be well-documented. Absence of good documentation could prove costly. Your documentation — good or bad — will be enlarged electronically and highlighted, with every helpful line bolstering your case and every ambiguity used against you.

• A good written record involving disciplinary action shows what an employee was told and helps eliminate the potential for misunderstanding.
• Employees are likelier to accept involuntary discharges if the decisions are supported by a solid written foundation.
• Bad documentation may omit facts, be poorly written, or detail inconsistent reasons for disciplinary action your institution takes.