Discipline and Dismissal
Non-Management Employees should perform well, follow the rules of the company, and respect their obligations to their Employers and the authority of Management Employees. When Employees perform well, respect their obligations and respect the rules, the company can operate productively and efficiently. When they do not, it is vital that you as the Employer or HR manager be able to put a stop to the situation and ensure that the Employee is being productive and complies with their obligations. An Employee who isn’t performing well or who isn’t respecting the rules of the company is not only detrimental because they are costing you money, being disruptive or not productive. They are detrimental because they encourage other Employees to do the same. They send the message to all Employees that bad performance and disruptiveness are acceptable and that your authority does not have to be respected.
You should not have to tolerate Employees who do not perform well or who do not respect your authority. This kind of attitude in the workplace can make your life as a small or medium business owner or a Manager stressful and miserable. It also makes the work of an HR Manager or an Executive tiring and difficult to accomplish. If the Employee refuses to correct their behaviour or if the situation is severe enough, you as Employer or the Manager/Executive should have the right to discipline or dismiss the Employee in question. However, in Quebec, Employees enjoy several rights under the Labour Standards Act and Unions enjoy several rights under their collective agreements. These rights include the automatic right to pursue you before a Commissioner or Arbitrator and reverse any disciplinary or dismissal decision you have made and pay the Employee full back-pay. This course of action is frequently successful. Therefore, it is important to approach any disciplinary or dismissal issue in a way that ensures that your decisions as the Employer or HR Manager make will not later be reversed.
Our services ensure that business owners and HR Managers can move forward confidently and without worry.
At OLS, we aim to make the disciplinary or dismissal process as effective, painless and inexpensive as possible for the Employer and their Management. We understand that Employers and Management do not want to have to reverse their decisions and that Employers do not want to spend significant amounts of money paying Employees back-pay. We work to ensure that their authority is respected and that they achieve the best possible results. From the outset of a problem or difficult situation, we are able to provide them with strategic advice and planning which can prevent a severe problem or an expensive litigation down the road. We work with our clients to ensure that they take all the right steps to ensure that their decisions can be justified and will be upheld. If our clients are being pursued by an Employee or by the Union, we work with them in order to help prepare their case, negotiate with the Employee or Union to reach a settlement that is favourable for our clients or litigate in order to ensure that our clients’ decisions are upheld and their rights are respected. Ultimately, our services ensure that business owners and HR Managers can move forward confidently and without worry.
Our services include:
1.
Strategic Solutions: Explaining the full range of solutions available and helping you discover what the best means are to accomplish your desired goal (letter of warning, suspension, dismissal)
2.
Strategic Planning: (documentation, strategic thinking, drafting memos, warnings or letters to the employee). This allows you to plan and handle any difficult situation with an employee in a way that will significantly strengthen your position both in the short term and the long term.
3.
Preparation:
Prepare your case for litigation or negotiation
4.
Mediation and Negotiation:
Negotiate with employees
5.
Litigation:
Litigate an employee’s wrongful dismissal or suspension claim