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Discipline / Investigations

Investigations are still the best way to fix problems

02/09/2026
Chances are, at some point an employee is going to come to HR and tell you they believe they have been discriminated against, harassed or otherwise been treated unfairly. How you respond to that complaint can mean the difference between losing a lawsuit and all that entails or resolving the problem early and avoiding liability.

Documenting performance: Avoid these 3 common mistakes

11/21/2025
“Document, document, document.” Employment attorneys say it all the time. The quality of your documentation relating to performance management and discipline goes to the heart of your credibility as a manager or HR professional. Anything less and your documentation becomes Exhibit A for the plaintiff.

Social media policies tighten as political tensions spill into workplaces

10/20/2025
The line between personal opinion and professional risk continues to shrink—and HR teams are often the ones left holding the rope.

Court: Toxic social media posts justify denying promotion

09/29/2025
Not everyone wants to spend their time deleting emails, blocking co-workers they don’t see eye to eye with or reading rants on message boards or “forward to all” emails. But employers sometimes don’t know when they can discipline over employees’ posts on and off company resources. Now, a federal appeals court has clarified some limits in a recent case.

Bypass progressive discipline if necessary

08/29/2025
Progressive discipline plans are great for correcting the behavior of employees in whom you have invested time and money and getting them back on track. But always leave yourself an “out” for those cases when retaining the worker just doesn’t make sense.

Is your employee discipline fair? A 5-question self-test

07/11/2025
Whether it’s deserved or not, the perception that management is “against” employees, once earned, is difficult to shake. That’s why it’s vital for supervisors to make sure they treat everyone fairly and consistently, especially when disciplining employees.

‘Impossible’ PIP sinks employer’s discharge appeal

07/07/2025
Performance-improvement plans should be challenging enough to let supervisors know the employee is up to performing their essential job functions at an acceptable level. Set reasonable, objective goals that can be achieved with sufficient effort in the time allotted in the PIP.

Discover work mistakes during FMLA? Here’s what to do

06/23/2025
Employees who take FMLA leave are protected from retaliation for doing so. That’s led to the mistaken belief among some employees that they can’t be disciplined or fired while on leave. That’s not the case.

Be better! Anti-harassment training, half-hearted investigations aren’t enough

05/02/2025
Why aren’t anti-harassment policies more effective at preventing harassment? The answer may lie in ineffective training and the failure of employers to follow their own policies.

Discipline consistently to avoid reverse-discrimination lawsuits

04/25/2025
There’s a simple way to avoid many kinds of reverse-discrimination lawsuits: Treat everyone alike. That means making sure supervisors apply work rules impartially and without exception unless there is an objective reason discipline should differ.