”I take it she had to sign something acknowledging she's read it and been counseled. What is your recourse if the counseled person refuses to sign?”
If it is an incremental and not a final written warning resulting in a termination, of course we ask the employee to sign the doc and we also provide them with ample space where they write their own comment, even if it is in disagreement with the warning or a negative comment. But they have to do it then and there, not take the doc home with them and stew over it for days and weeks. They are also told they can have further conversations with their HR rep if they do not feel comfortable discussing with their direct manager or their next line manager, and if they feel they’ve been treated unfairly and not comfortable discussing with anyone at the local plant, in the case of my present company, there is an independently monitored hot line they can call with referrals sent to corporate HR. It is the same hotline employees can call under our “whistle blowers” policy.
At my company and several others I’ve worked for over the years, we give them some opportunity to voice their concerns and voice their disagreement with the warning or disciplinary action or enforcement of policy(s) both verbally and in writing and in some cases I’ve seen employees comment that they are not in disagreement and are motivated to correct the problem or behavior. But when it comes to the point of a face to face meeting with a last chance written warning, you really want to keep it factual and only pertaining to the last and most recent issue(s) at hand and not a long “bitch fest” from either side of the table that degrades into personal arguments and or insults unrelated to work and the work issues or things that happened years ago. And a “good” and competent and fair HR person will keep things under control and not allow the conversation to drift off and off topic by either the manger or the employee.
And we provide them with a copy of the warning document. If they refuse to sign (or refuse to take a copy), they refuse to sign and that alone will not result in termination, but then the HR person will note such and the manager or 3rd person/witness like a higher level manager in attendance at the meeting, depending on the severity, will sign as a witnesses that the employee refused to sign and or was offered a copy of the warning and that the employee refused to take it. FWIW - a refusal to sign rather than making a comment in their defense, is usually a sign that this employee will be back for another meeting very soon and not in a good way – probably for a final one.
A simple verbal one on one meeting between a manager or supervisor and an employee doesn’t require a signed doc, but we ask the manager to complete a “memo of conversation”. That would be something along the lines of documenting what was said: “X called out at the last minute for the 3rd time this month (or was more than 15 minutes late – didn’t follow a SOP or WI resulting in a QA line stoppage or product loss, etc) and I advised X that he/she was at 4 attendance points (or whatever the issue was) and advised X that further (whatever) would next result in a written warning and up to or including a final written warning resulting in termination” with the date and time of the conversation and the manger’s signature and if relevant, what the employee said in response and hopefully, the manager documents the conversation accurately. We in HR also like to see the manager provide the employee with a copy of the policy or SOP or WI to the employee and if it is sincerely a case of the employee really trying to do a good job in the case of a QA or WI issue, we will often provide them with some additional training, if warranted.
However, when it’s a final meeting that is resulting in the employee’s termination (and I really hate those), we try to keep it rather short and sweet. Just the facts of what last transpired and why (and if given previous warnings) it was resulting in their termination. The last thing you want to do is engage them in a long drawn out conversation that could escalate into a bad or volatile or even violent situation or make them sign any document right then and there. We give them a letter signed by their manager and by HR as to their termination and a package for their benefits continuation (COBRA) and even in some cases, if it is performance related and not flagrant policy violation(s) and if they’ve been with the company for more than a year, we will give them a severance package commensurate with the number of years they’ve been with the company and that helps to some degree “soften the blow”.
Severance agreements are not required to be signed at the termination meeting and we actually don’t want the terminated employee to sign on the spot as typically, and depending on the state, they actually have 7-14 days to sign and return with along with a clause that advises the employee to seek the advice of legal counsel before signing as many severance agreements have a “hold harmless clause” and then often a 7 day revocation period after signing. Unless the termination is for “willful” and or “egregious misconduct” the termination letter and severance agreement will also advise them of their “rights” to file for unemployment but not necessarily guarantee that they will qualify for benefits.
Thanks for all the info! Seems the workplace has become a landmine field in the past few decades and so very toxic.