Be careful issuing discipline for employee misconduct because each incident typically exists within its own bubble, says employment law attorney Leonard V. Feigel (lfeigel@foley.com) of the firm Foley & Lardner LLP. Courts will look to determine if the discipline was in line with discipline previously issued to similarly situated employees who committed similar misconduct. So, consider:

• The work history of the person guilty of misconduct.
• The work history of co-workers and/or similarly situated employees. 
• Whether the employee is a member of a protected group that is under-represented in the job position or department. For example, is the person the only female in that position? 
• Did any co-workers commit the same misconduct in the prior year or two – and, if yes, what discipline was issued?

HR Manager Nereida Yañez Lenoir recommends the following strategy: 

• Be consistent. Make sure that the discipline is consistent for that same type of behavior, regardless of the employee. For example, if you fire an employee for time clock fraud, that should be applied to every time clock fraud situation going forward.
• Investigate. Do not base your choice to discipline/level of discipline on something you heard without getting all of the details. Have the appropriate conversations/interviews with parties involved if necessary.
• Document. Documentation is essential and often overlooked by managers. It’s best to complete this right after the conversation so details are fresh.
• Communicate. When appropriate, communicate to the employee what could happen if the misconduct occurs again. Typically, this can be something along the lines of: Failure to (improve on/meet the above expectation, etc.) could result in further corrective action, up to and including termination.

Start by thoroughly investigating to confirm the information is correct, says Roz Gamble, VP of Corporate Operations & HR. Then refer to the employee handbook for company policy.

Meet with the employee and the employee’s senior manager and document everything. Interview any witnesses and document it. Apply disciplinary process as outlined in the employee handbook. Check the employee’s file for previous violations of a similar nature. If the employee has received no prior violations and the current violation isn’t serious, we’d give a first written warning and put the employee on a probationary period. If it qualifies as serious misconduct, we’d terminate the employee.

First, we find a private conference room in order to speak with the employee, says HR Manager Kim Schrader.

We have HR present as well as the employee’s direct manager. We review what happened and why we consider the employee’s action to be misconduct. Then we give the employee a chance to explain in his or her own words what happened. In talking with the employee, we hope to understand their point of view as well as have them understand the company’s point of view. From there, we determine the appropriate next steps, which would be based on the seriousness of the misconduct.