Documentation in the Workplace

1
Documentation in the Workplace

• John J Sarno
• Employers Association of New Jersey
• Nothing in this seminar constitutes
• legal advice or legal opinion

2
Common Situations When Documentation is Required

• Discipline
• Discharge
• Investigations
• Corrective Actions

3

• Most discharge claims allege some form of
  discrimination or retaliation
• In many cases, employer has the burden of
  documenting its reason for discharge

4
Legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for
discipline or discharge should be supported with
documentation

• Discharge
• Error Records
• Performance reviews
• Incident reports
• Reorganization plans
• Financial documentation
• Customer contacts/complaints
• Production records
• Quality reports

5
Performance Reviews

• Measure objective criteria
• Check for departmental/unit consistency
• Improvement Plan (particularly with long-term
  employees)
• Recognize red flags, e.g., has employee engaged
  in protected activity
• Consistency between review and verbal or other
  written communications

6
Documents That Support Disciplinary Action

• Regular records time cards, production sheets
• Written complaints/comments from consumers,
  co-workers, vendors
• Examples of unsatisfactory work
• Written summaries of disciplinary conferences

7

• Describe
• What happened
• Who was there
• What took place
• When did it take place date and time
• If relevant
• Where it happened
• Physical appearance of area
• What witnesses were present