What should managers include in employee documentation to protect the employer legally?

Here is what good employee documentation needs. Some of these items are so obvious that it’s downright embarrassing to have to bring them up, but I’m still going to. The fact is these points are frequently ignored when managers do their documentation.

Put your name on it. Grade-school teachers gave zero credit for projects that were not signed. It takes about three seconds. It’s real hard to believe that anyone could forget it, but they often do. This wastes time and perhaps money, as you go through process with the lawyers.

Use the full names of the employee and any managers involved. Your company might have more than one Brandon working for you. Even a knowledgeable reader can have trouble determining which “Bob” or “Brandon” you are talking about, and a lawyer reading it may not be able to figure it out at all. Documentation is for other people’s use, not just for jogging your memory.

Include date, time, and place in the record. This information is often left out, but it can be important for context. The date is the most critical. Without a date, nobody can tell when things happened, and in what order they happened.

Make it legible. Since computers came along, legibility issues should be less common, but they still happen. If you are still writing things out by hand, then print your name under your signature. This makes your illegible signature legible.

Explain the context. Assume that you are writing for someone who has never seen the place and knows nothing about your business. The general audience for this sort of record can include your boss, HR, in-house and outside lawyers, agency investigators, judges, and juries. This is a whole lot of people. Explain your company, the employee’s department and job.

Explain anything that could be taken the wrong way. Some actions look perfectly reasonable to people who know the situation and why you took those actions. The same actions can look irrational and suspicious to someone who does not have the same knowledge, especially when they come at the wrong point in the timeline. Let’s say that on December 1, 2016, Mary complains that David told an off-color joke. But your HR manager is in Nepal, back in a week. The HR coordinator is on medical leave. You get HR when you can, but you deal with the immediate problem first. In this example, one good option would be to put David and Mary in different work areas until someone can make decisions on this situation. Be sure to document your actions and their dates.

Weak version of the note, without details: “Mary complained on December 1. Reported to HR December 8.”

It looks terrible. This note reads as if the supervisor took a week to report the incident to HR.

Better note: On December 1, 2016, Mary complained that David told an off-color joke. Our HR manager was still in Nepal, back December 8. The HR coordinator is on medical leave. I tried to reach both but could not. On December 1, 2016, I put Mary and David in different work areas until someone in HR could make decisions on this situation. Reported to HR when the HR manager returned, December 8, 2016.

This is much better. It explains the delay. If the joke is worse than something that would generate a simple reprimand, you may want to suspend the accused worker, with pay. The reason would be to permit a proper investigation.

Documented Warning

Note that it was shown to the employee. A documented warning is no good unless you share it with the employee. For discipline, it is a must, as you don’t want to defend a case in court based on, “He ought to have known.” For investigations, it’s less critical. If the employee refuses to sign, write that down, along with the date.

Give details, not conclusions. Your evaluation of “an offensive joke” is less persuasive than a straightforward description of what David actually said. Readers will draw their own conclusions and then react to what you did about it.

Did this employee have any past discipline for the same offense or a similar one? If so, note it. Make sure that any documentation of prior offenses also matches the quality guidelines here.

Include the employee’s side of the story, either paraphrased or quoted directly. You may remember his explanation as a lame excuse, but other people may find it persuasive, so get it into the record.

For discipline, spell out the consequences of repeat violations. This is part of due process.