6 steps to keep Employee Complaints from Escalating

If an employee is unhappy then the best thing you can do is let him or her vent about the issue that’s bugging them. The worst thing that can happen is that the employee lets the situation fester. This is when a simple problem can escalate to one on a much larger scale. Something that could have been kept in-house could lead to the employee seeking counsel if the issue is that important. There’s no way to prejudge how important something is to an individual until it’s too late. Follow these six steps to keep the employee happy and, in turn, your business running smoothly:

1. Let the employee come forward on his or her own. The employee m ay be embarrassed or extremely agitated about the situation.Accordingly, they may realize that they need time to assess their feelings. When they’re ready to discuss the problem meet with them behind closed doors for their privacy.

2. Consider the facts. Let the employee explain the situation. Take notes during the meeting. Your experience will allow you to separate the facts from the emotions that are sure to come into play.
3. Have the employee put it in writing. By having the employee write down his complaint the possibility for misunderstandings down the road will be drastically limited. Encourage the employee to do this and let him or her know that this standard procedure and in his or her best interest as the situation unfolds.
4. Investigate thoroughly. After the initial complaint has been lodged, talk to the employees being named in the complaint. Get their sides of the story in writing. During this process, take notes and consider just the facts as you weed out the emotions that will be present.
5. Ask for witnesses.If there are any witnesses available that can corroborate the complaint or dismiss the allegations talk with them as soon as possible. Again, ask for a written statement and take your own notes during the interview process.
6. Make the judgment on the facts. Once you’ve collected all the statements and can properly weigh the facts it’s time to levy a judgment. Try to avoid involving attorneys, but if it comes to that point act swiftly. Consider the ramifications for your company. If possible, seek a non-biased mediator to assist in the matter. This can alleviate the complainant’s fears that he is going to get snowballed in the matter and will make everyone feel better about the process.

Chuck Krugel’s comments: Relative to employee venting, an employer has to pay attention to when, where , to whomand why and employee vents. For example, if the employee just doesn’t like the employer, then it’s probably best to do that away from customers and other employees.

If the employer learns of a situation, not directly from the involved employees, but from a witness or other party, the employer might still be legally obligated to investigate and take corrective action. By not doing so, the employer may be exposing themselves to legal liability and the loss of money.

Additionally, it’s not possible to always get a complaint in writing from the employee or a written statement from a witness. Sometimes, the employer has to document a witness’ statement or a verbal complaint from an employee. This is especially true where the employee is unable to write or the employee doesn’t speak or write in English well.

Finally, with respect to fact gathering and checking, an employer isn’t required to prove something as a matter of fact in order to take action. An employer just has to be reasonably sure that something occurred; the employer isn’t legally required to prove as a matter of fact or even “beyond a reasonable doubt” that something occurred.

Below is a sample of the handout:

WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE DISCIPLINE?

Simply stated progressive discipline is the concept that employee discipline is administered in an incremental and ascending manner. That is, each repeated infraction results in more serious disciplinary action leading to discharge.

Obviously, when and how progressive discipline is used depends on the nature, frequency and magnitude of the misconduct.

For example, a five-minute tardiness MAY result in a verbal warning on the first occurrence, a written warning on the second occurrence and a suspension on the third occurrence, IF each occurrence happens in a relatively compressed time period (e.g., three days in a row, or three weeks in a row). However, if each instance of tardiness is isolated or sporadic (e.g., three months in a row), then suspension for the third occurrence might be extreme.

As indicated above, the nature or magnitude of the misconduct MIGHT warrant progressive discipline unnecessary.

For example, beating up a coworker might warrant immediate termination (assuming there’s no extenuating circumstance). The same goes for theft or being under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol.

As stated in ABC Company policy manual, “The seriousness and frequency of the violation will determine the disciplinary procedure to be used. Please recognize that we may elect to skip or repeat disciplinary actions.”

More on progressive discipline is discussed in the sections How Much Money Does an Employment Dispute Cost & What’s Your Likelihood of Getting Into an Employment Related Dispute or Being Sued? and The Costs of Unemployment Compensation (UC) Claims.

WHAT IS WRONGFUL TERMINATION

Also known as wrongful discharge this is the legal mandate that any termination which violates the law, contract or public policy is illegal.

Illinois doesn’t recognize wrongful termination in the public policy context, but does recognize it in the context of any law or breach of contract.

Public policy is a commonly known policy against termination for reasons other than documented performance or misconduct. It could mean laying off outside of seniority, firing a falsely accused employee, or some other unjustified firing.

An increasing majority of states don’t recognize public policy as being grounds for employer liability and our increasingly strengthening and enforcing the employment at-will doctrine.

Consequently, wrongful discharge is commonly known to be any discharge that occurs in violation of any of our civil rights statutes or ordinances (race, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, military status, etc.), or any termination which violates a provision in a legally binding contract.

The subject of the interview will of course be labor and employment law and human resources and how they impact small to medium sized businesses–startups, existing, entrepreneurs, et.

My first Consumer Eye interview with Derek was on his June 7, 2007, show.  That interview was also live and lasted for approximately 40 minutes.  That interview wasn’t recorded.  This Saturday’s interview will be recorded and available for listening to on this site in the near future.

Thanks to Derek and Stephen Anderson of Foreign Exchange Services in Chicago for asking me on for another interview.

After deciding whether to have employment policies and which policies to have, a business should determine what form these policies should take. Such forms may include an electronic document, a written memo, a multi-page document, a bound manual, or a combination of these. Alternatively, a business might choose to put nothing in writing.

Essentially, the decision comes down to company size and complexity and purposes of the policies. The larger and more complex a company is, the greater the need for written employment policies addressing a large number and range of issues; i.e., a larger document. The smaller and less complex a business is means that it will probably have fewer issues to address, and it might not even have to put all of its in policies writing.

However, even a small company in a highly regulated or complex industry, like nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals or energy, will probably have to address a greater number of employment issues via written policies; e.g., safety, hygiene, record retention and destruction, and regulatory agency reporting. In short, the complexity of a company and its industry is just as good of an indicator of what form employment policies should take as is the number of employees in that business.

What the policies are intended to address is another important indicator of which policies to implement and put in writing. That is, purpose is a good predictor of what policies are needed and their form. For example, if a 20-year old business has never addressed workplace violence issues, then it probably doesn’t need to address this issue via written policies. Or, at most, it might not need to exhaustively address this issue in writing. However, a two-year old business that is undergoing rapid growth, and is hiring from a population that’s at-risk to violence, might need to be more proactive and address workplace violence at the outset. In this workplace violence example, company size and industry complexity are less of an indicator of policy needs and form than the intended purpose of the policy. In short, a company shouldn’t seek to address issues it hasn’t encountered, unless it could reasonably expect to encounter these issues in the near future, or it’s required by law or regulation to address them.

When discussing what kinds of policies to implement with clients or prospective clients, I often use the “whack-a-mole” game analogy. As soon as you hit the mole another one pops out of another hole, and this forever continues. In other words, as soon as a business thinks that it has sufficiently addressed one workforce policy concern, a new one pops up. It’s impossible to sufficiently cover every issue or circumstance that arises, and it’s impossible to put everything in writing. It the opposite were true, then labor and employment litigation in the U.S. would greatly decrease.

Taking the above argument a step further, a business’ policies, no matter what form they take, should expressly acknowledge the inability to cover everything, and they should explicitly state that the policies are intended as guidelines only. For example, the policies could indicate that it’s impossible to address every situation that may arise, and that the policies aren’t intended as a substitute for common sense or reasonable behavior. They’re intended as general guidelines only. The employer understands that exceptions to the rules may exist and will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, the policies should state that they don’t create any form of an employment contract or agreement, and they can be changed at any time and for any reason without cause or prior notice by the employer (this doesn’t mean that the employer shouldn’t communicate any changes or new policies to its workforce; it’s bad management not to). Thus, the need to protect company assets makes putting policies in writing paramount for medium and larger businesses (25 employees and up) and more complex smaller businesses.

With all of this said, some businesses, especially small businesses, believe that it’s better to put nothing in writing. This way, they won’t give contentious employees and their attorneys bad ideas about lawsuits and complaints. Well I understand that logic, but I don’t necessarily agree. The reason I don’t agree is simple—unemployment compensation.

Financially speaking, unemployment compensation (“UC”) disproportionately impacts against smaller businesses to a greater extent than larger businesses. It tends to eat up a greater percentage of operating expenses for smaller businesses than it does larger businesses. Furthermore, the people who handle UC claims tend to be sympathetic to claimants (displaced employees) because that’s who the money is for. So UC claims administrators tend to only deny benefits when the employer provides them with documented proof of employee ineligibility; e.g., misconduct, quitting work, absenteeism. Moreover, the UC claims processors usually seek documented proof of violations of employment policies. They expect the employment policies themselves to be in writing. It’s just government bureaucracy.

Consequently, as a general rule, from a cost versus benefit perspective, if a business is paying a lot in UC, it’s better that a business put policies in writing.