Originally Published in Today’s Veterinary Business, April 2018
You’ve created disciplinary policies and procedures that are clear, fair and approved by your attorney, and so it appears you’ve got all your bases covered. You carefully document misconduct and poor performance, discuss these acts with all relevant parties – and then an employee throws you a curve ball by refusing to sign a disciplinary notice. You really want this signature as proof of the discipline meeting, so what do you do now?
Here are seven steps you can take to get that signature and help prevent this refusal from happening again in the future. These steps also help you to protect your practice when an employee ultimately does not sign the disciplinary notice.
Step One: Stay Calm
It isn’t unusual for employees to refuse to sign notices related to disciplinary matters and there are reasonable actions you can take to manage the disciplinary process and protect your practice if this meeting later becomes part of a legal matter. The calmer you can remain, the better.
Step Two: Carefully Describe the Signature’s Purpose
At the beginning of disciplinary meetings, it’s best to first provide an overview of what’s about to transpire, which includes discussing the undesirable behaviors that led to the meeting along with any discipline that will occur. You should let the employee know that he or she will have time to review the written document detailing the situation – and that his or her signature at the bottom will only show that he or she has received the document and read it, not serve as an indication of agreement of the document’s contents.
Employees who refuse to sign typically do so for one of two reasons (or both). First, he or she may refuse because of a disagreement over the contents. Or, the refusal may come from a belief that the form is invalid without the signature. To move forward, it may be helpful to first decipher why the signature is being refused. If it’s a disagreement over the contents, see steps three and four. If it’s the second reason, see step five. In either case, armed with the knowledge found in those steps, cordially educate your employee about options available when he or she disagrees with the content and/or about the validity of the document without his or her signature.
Step Three: Add Comments and Clarifications
Many practices allow employees to add comments to the form, which can make them feel better about signing it, as they may feel as though they can provide their own points of view in writing. It is also acceptable and often helpful to have wording above the employee’s signature line that clearly states how a signature does not mean the employee agrees with the content of the document, only that he or she has read it.
If the ability to add comments and/or the clarifying statement above the signature line allows your employee to feel comfortable enough with the process to sign the document, then you’ve solved the refusal-to-sign problem. If not, read on.
Step Four: Suggest A Rebuttal
Perhaps an employee feels strongly enough about the information contained in the disciplinary notice that he or she would agree to write a written rebuttal that could be attached to the disciplinary notice. If so, this helps your practice because it demonstrates that the employee was aware of the discipline and that the practice was following its policy of progressive discipline.
Plus, the rebuttal may bring up points that practice management was unaware of, and it’s important for managers to be open to explanations given. Some rebuttals consist largely of emotional statements (“my co-worker is a jerk” or “my manager has always hated me, so why should this be any different?”) without any information of significance being given.
In other instances, though, the employee being disciplined may bring to light new information that may be relevant to the disciplinary actions being taken. Perhaps your employee will provide written documentation that alters the situation being addressed. What if he or she gives you names of witnesses who tell a different story?
If so, at a minimum, you can correct information on the form, adding and deleting details to make the form accurate. At that point, with correct information and an attached rebuttal, your employee may be willing to sign the notice. In relatively rare instances, this new information may cause you to rethink the disciplinary procedure you’ve started. If doubts are raised about the employee’s misconduct or poor performance, don’t rush through the disciplinary process. Make sure you have all the facts before proceeding.
Step Five: Employee Still Elects Not to Sign: What’s Next?
Some employees may still refuse to sign, even after being offered the chance to rebut the statements made in writing. You could recommend that the employee write the words “I disagree” before signing. On occasion, that works.
Step Six: Employee STILL Elects Not to Sign: Now What?
If there are two people from management and/or human resources in the meeting, add a statement to the document that details what happened in the meeting and note that the employee elected not to sign. Then have both managers/human resources representatives sign below that statement. If there aren’t two people in the meeting that represent management, invite one into the meeting at this point so you can get dual signatures.
By this point, you may feel very frustrated, but don’t attempt to force the employee to sign the notice – and definitely don’t threaten to fire him or her to increase pressure.
Step Seven: Adjust Policies and Procedures Accordingly
You may be reading this article right when you’re in the middle of a disciplinary procedure, one where your employee refuses to sign the notice. If so, then you may not be able to follow these steps exactly as written, needing to adapt them to the stage of the process where you currently are. After that particular disciplinary process is over, though, you should review your relevant policies and procedures to see what needs modified, based upon what you’ve learned and experienced to make future disciplinary processes run more smoothly.
Link to article https://todaysveterinarybusiness.com/break-the-impasse/
