DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES

A disciplinary procedure is sometimes the best way for your employer to tell you when
something is wrong. It allows them to explain clearly what improvement is needed and
should give you an opportunity to put your side of the situation.
Discipline is the key to success. Theodore Roosevelt has said With self-discipline almost
everything is possible. Self discipline makes employee realize what is required at work.
Discipline can be positively related to performance. It is the bridge between goals and
accomplishments. Effective discipline should be aimed at the behavior, and not at the
employee personality. This is because the reason for discipline is to improve performance
rather than punishing the employee.
There are a number of reasons why your employer may decide to take disciplinary action
against employee. These include employees:

behaviour at work

absence from work

standard of work.

Following are some of the purposes and objectives of disciplinary action:

1. To enforce rules and regulations.
2. To punish the offender.
3. To serve as an example to others to strictly follow rules.
4. To ensure the smooth running of the organisation.
5. To increase working efficiency.
6. To maintain industrial peace.
7. To improve working relations and tolerance.
8. To develop a working culture which improves performance.
Factors necessary for effective disciplinary system include:
Training of supervisors is necessary: Power of executing discipline must be in the hands of
trained persons so as to ensure make proper use of Power on the offenders only, but not on
innocents. That is a reason why Supervisors and mangers need to be trained on when and
how discipline should be used. It is necessary to provide training on counseling skills as these
skills are used while dealing with problem employees. Moreover, it should be ensured that

discipline decisions taken by trained superiors must be considered fair and unbiased by both
employees and managers so as to build up respect towards a system which will help in
developing healthy industrial relationships.
Centralization of discipline: No one is above the law, whosoever is equal before the law and
the punishment is same to whosoever. likewise, organisations should also implement same
principle, which is being applied in the rule of law.Centralized means that the discipline
decisions should be uniform throughout the organization.The greater the uniformity, higher
will be the effectiveness of discipline procedure.
Impersonal discipline: Discipline should be handled impersonally. Managers should try to
minimize the ill feelings arising out of the decisions by judging the offensive behavior and
not by judging the person. Managers should limit their emotional involvement in the
disciplinary sessions.
Review discipline decisions: The disciplinary decisions must be reviewed before being
implemented. This will ensure uniformity and fairness of the system and will minimize the
arbitrariness of the disciplinary system.
Notification of conduct that may result in discipline: Actions that lead to misconduct can
be listed and documented so the employees are aware of such actions. This will unable them
to claim that they have not been notified, in advance, regarding the same.
Information regarding penalties: The employer should define the penalties and other
actions like warnings, reprimands, discharge and dismissal well in advance. All these action
plans must be communicated to the employees.
Discipline shall be progressive: Discipline system should be progressive in nature. In a
progressive discipline approach the severity of actions to modify behavior increases with
every step as the employee continues to show improper behavior. The advantage of this
approach is that employees cant take it for granted.
Documentation: Effective discipline requires accurate, written record keeping and written
notification to the employees. Thus less chance will be left for the employee to say the he
did not know about the policy.
Discipline should be fair: The disciplinary decision should be fair enough for the employee.
Both over-penalization and under-penalization are considered to be unfair for the problem
employee. Moreover, an internal fairness is to be maintained, that is, two employees who
have committed the same offense should be equally punished.
Discipline shall be flexible and consistent: The manager administering discipline must
consider the effect of actions taken by other managers and of other actions taken in the past.
Consistent discipline helps to set limits and informs people about what they can and cannot
do. Inconsistent discipline leads to confusion and uncertainty.
Disciplinary action should be prompt: The effective discipline should be immediate. The
longer time lag between the misconduct offense and the disciplinary action will result in
ineffectiveness of the discipline; besides it may give scope again to commit

misconduct,which may create feeling of recklessness and negligence in the minds of others
over the organisation management and also may create feeling of levity among employees.
DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE
Before starting the process of discipline, it is essential to hold a preliminary inquiry to know
if a prima facie case of indiscipline and misconduct exist. After this, the following steps
should be followed:
1. Issue of charge sheet: Once the prima facie case of misconduct is established, the
management should proceed to issue a charge sheet to the employee. Charge sheet is merely a
notice of the charge and provides the employee an opportunity to explain his conduct.
Therefore, charge sheet is generally known as a slow cause notice. In the charge sheet, each
charge should be clearly specified. There should be a separate charge for each allegation and
charge should not relate to any matter, which has already been decided upon. I would suggest
each one of you to talk to find out how is a charge sheet prepared. We will discuss that in the
next class.
2. Consideration of Explanation. On getting the answer for the charge sheet served, the
explanation furnished should be considered and if it is satisfactory, no disciplinary action
needs to be taken. On the contrary when the management is not satisfied with the employees
explanation, it can proceed with full-fledged enquiry. (However, if the worker admits the
charge, the employer can warn him or award him punishment without further enquiry.)
3. Suspension pending Enquiry. In case the charge is grave that is serious, a suspension
order may be served on the employee along with the charge sheet. According to the Industrial
Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946, the suspended worker is to be paid a subsistence
allowance equal to one-half of his wages for the first ninety days of suspension and threefourths of wages for the remaining period of suspension if the delay in the completion of
disciplinary proceedings is not due to the workers conduct.
What is grave will depend on the discretion of the management. It has to be decided in
accordance with the Code Of Discipline.
4. Holding of Enquiry. An enquiry officer should be appointed to hold the enquiry and a
notice to this effect should be given to the concerned worker. Principle of natural justice must
be followed. The worker should not be denied the chance of explaining himself. The enquiry
officer should give sufficient notice to the worker so that he may prepare to represent his case
and make submission in his defense. The enquiry officer should proceed in a proper manner
and examine witnesses. Fair opportunity should be given to the worker to cross-examine the
management witnesses.
The principles of natural justice can be summarised as follows:
Principle of Natural Justice

Tell the person what he has done

Hear Him

Give Him a Chance to defend himself

On the conclusion of the enquiry, the enquiry officer should record his findings and the
reasons thereof. He should refrain from recommending punishment and leave it to the
decision of the appropriate authority. After all he is just an enquiry officer!!
5. Order of Punishment. Disciplinary action can be taken when the misconduct of the
employee is proved. While deciding the nature of disciplinary action, the employees
previous record, precedents, effects of the action on other employees, etc, have to be
considered.
When the employee feels that the enquiry conducted was not proper and the action taken
unjustified, he must be given a chance to make appeal.
The Company will normally adhere to the following progressive disciplinary process:
As mentioned earlier, discipline generally follows a typical sequence of four steps: written
verbal warning, written warning, suspension, and dismissal. Lets briefly review these four
steps.

1. Written Verbal Warning

The mildest form of discipline is the written verbal warning. Yes, the term is correct. A
written, verbal warning is a temporary record of a reprimand that is then placed in the
managers file on the employee. This written verbal warning should state the purpose, date,
and outcome of the interview with the employee. This in fact, what differentiates the written
verbal warning from the verbal warning. Because of the need to document this step in the
process, the verbal warning must be put into writing. The difference, however, is that this
warning remains in the hands of the manager; that is, it is not forwarded to HRM for
inclusion in the employees personnel file.
The written verbal reprimand is best achieved when completed in a private and informal
environment. The manager should begin by clearly informing the employee of the rule that
has been violated and the problem that this infraction has caused. For instance, if the
employee has been late several times, the manager would reiterate the organizations rule that
employees are to be at their desks by 8:00 A.M, and then proceed to give specific evidence of
how violation of this rule has resulted in an increase in workload for others and has lowered

departmental morale. After the problem has been made clear, the manager should then allow
the employee to respond. Is he aware of the problem? Are there extenuating circumstances
that justify his behavior? What does he plan to do correct his behavior?
After the employee has been given the opportunity to make his case, the manager must
determine if the employee has proposed an adequate solution to the problem. If this has not
been done, the manager should direct the discussion toward helping the employee figure out
ways to prevent the trouble from recurring. Once a solution has been agreed upon, the
manager should ensure that the employee understands what, if any, follow-up action will be
taken if the problem recurs.
2. Written Reprimand
The second step in the progressive discipline process is the written warning. In effect, it is the
first formal stage of the disciplinary procedure. This is because the written warning becomes
part of the employees official personnel file. This is achieved by not only giving the warning
to the employee but sending a copy to HRM to be inserted in the employees permanent
record. In all other ways, however, the procedure concerning the writing of the warning is the
same as the written verbal warning; that is, the employee is advised in private of the
violation, its effects, and potential consequences of future violations. The only difference is
that the discussion concludes with the employee being told that a formal written warning will
be issued. Then the manager writes up the warning-stating the problem, the rule that has been
violated, any acknowledgment by the employee to correct her behavior, and the consequences
form a recurrence of the deviant behavior-and sends it to HRM.
3. SuspensionI
A suspension or layoff would be the next disciplinary step, usually taken only the prior steps
have been implemented without the desired outcome. Exceptions-where suspension is given
without any prior verbal or written warning occasionally occur if the infraction is of a
serious nature. A suspension may be for one day or several weeks; disciplinary layoffs in
excess of a month are rare. Some organizations skip this step completely because it can have
negative consequences for both the company and the employee. From the organizations
perspective, a suspension means the loss of the employee for the layoff period. If the person
has unique skills or is a vital part of a complex process, her loss during the suspension period
can severely impact her department or the organization performance if a suitable replacement
cannot be located. From the employees standpoint, a suspension can result in the employee
returning in a more unpleasant and negative frame of mind than before the layoff. Then why
should management consider suspending employees as a disciplinary measure? The answer is
that a short layoff is potentially a rude awakening to problem employees. It may convince
them that management is serious and may move them to accept responsibility for following
the organizations rules.
4. Dismissal
Managements ultimate disciplinary punishment is dismissing the problem employee.
Dismissal should be used only for the most serious offenses. Yet it may be the only feasible
alternative when an employees behavior seriously interferes with a department or the
organizations operation. A dismissal decision should be given long and hard consideration.
For almost all individuals, being fired from a fob is an emotional trauma. For employees who
have been with the organization for many years dismissal can make it difficult to obtain new
employment or may require the individual to undergo extensive retraining. In addition,

management should consider the possibility that a dismissed employee will take legal action
to fight the decision. Recent count cases indicate that juries are cautiously building a list of
conditions under which employees may not be lawfully discharged.
Employee rights towards disciplinary procedure.
Amongst others employee's has the right to:

Be informed about an investigation if he/she is the subject thereof and that the results
may be issued in the disciplinary enquiry.

Access to documents produced in evidence;

A fair hearing;

Be represented;

Be heard, in terms to lead evidence etc.;

Call witnesses;

Cross- examine witnesses;

An interpreter, if necessary;

Written reasons for decisions;

Plead in mitigation;

Appeal in terms of the internal remedies.

Employer rights towards disciplinary procedure.

Amongst others the employer has the right to:

Discipline employees.

Suspend employees.

Appoint a Chairperson and Initiator.

Lead evidence.

Call witnesses.

Cross-examine witnesses.

Argue aggravating circumstances.

Consider and impose an appropriate sanction.

Access to document produced in evidence.