Disiplinary Action from Employer by Not Attending Training Seminar
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You should carefully review your employment agreement, if applicable, and any employee handbook of company policies and procedures to determine your rights and obligations as an employee, which will depend on the type of employment relationship you have and your
employer’s particular policies and procedures.
Most employers have the right to dismiss an employee for just cause,
such as theft from the business, selling trade secrets, and not
fulfilling job duties. An employee-at-will is one who does not have an
employment contract governing the terms of dismissal, and therefore is
much less protected in their rights to maintain employment. An oral
contract of employment offering the expectation of continued employment
may prevent a finding of employee-at-will status. In employment-at-will
situations, both the employer and employee are free to terminate the
employment relationship at any time, without notice, and for good
reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. Without a contractual clause or
statute governing notice of termination, employers are generally not
required to give a certain amount of notice before terminating an
employee. Although rules governing at-will employment remain largely
intact today, courts and legislatures have crafted some exceptions to
these rules. Some of these exceptions apply when the employer and the
employee have entered into a contract. Other exceptions apply when the
discharge violates a mandate of public policy or when an employer
violates a duty to exercise good faith and fair dealing with the
employee. Though these exceptions do not prohibit an employer from
terminating an employee, they will allow the employee to recover
damages. Individual states vary regarding protections offered to
employees in an at-will employment relationship.
Some employees enter into employment relationships by signing employment
contracts, which contain the terms of employment, including salaries,
the length of the employment contract and provisions regarding early
termination. An employee who has a written contract with his or her
employer must first prove the existence of the contract. Once the
employee has proven this, then the employee must prove that the employer
has breached the agreement. Whether an employer has breached a contract
depends on the terms of the agreement itself. In some instances, a
contract may restrict an employer from terminating an employee except
for certain reasons or by following certain procedures. The employee
must prove that the employer breached the agreement in order to recover.
In some instances, an employer may make oral promises to an employee
regarding job security. These promises often take place before the
employee is hired and are often intended to entice the employee to work
for the employer. Although employees may have difficulty proving that an
employer has made an oral promise, courts frequently enforce such
promises of job security. As is the case with a written contract, the
specific language than an employer uses when making an oral promise will
determine whether a court will enforce the contract or treat the
relationship as one that is at will. Courts are more likely to enforce a
contract that states a more definite period of time. Such a period of
time may be very specific, such as a promise for employment for one
year, or it may be determined in some objective manner, such as a
promise that an employee will remain employed until the completion of a
particular project.
Employees may be dismissed for cause, one of which is employee behavior.
Common behaviors that lead to terminations include: absenteeism and
tardiness; unsatisfactory performance; lack of qualifications or
ability; changed job requirements; and gross misconduct; misconduct
might involve drug abuse, theft, or other breaches of company or public
policy. Employers may terminate workers based on any type of behavior
they deem unacceptable, although laws and court interpretations of these
laws have protected some types of behavior when the employer's
retaliatory action is deemed to be a violation of public policy; a
violation of an implied contract between the employer and the employee;
or an act of bad faith. Violations of implied contracts occur when a
company dismisses a worker despite the existence of an insinuated
promise. Implied contracts often emanate from interviews, policy
manuals, or long-term patterns of behavior by the employer in a
relationship with an employee. Even when an employer acts in good faith
and does not violate the public trust or an implied contract, it can be
legally liable for dismissing a worker for other reasons. Specifically,
a business may be found liable if it cannot prove that its decision to
dismiss an employee is not founded on bias against a protected minority;
or the firing does not produce inequitable results.
Because of the legal risks inherent in dismissing employees, most
companies terminate workers for behavior-related causes only after
administering a progressive disciplinary and counseling process. In
employment law, disciplinary action is a process for dealing with
job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated
performance standards. The primary purpose for discipline is to assist
the employee to understand that a performance problem or opportunity for
improvement exists. The process features efforts to provide feedback to
the employee so he or she can correct the problem. The goal of
discipline is to improve employee performance. Some methods of
disciplinary action may have an employer verbally reprimand the employee
for poor performance; provide a written verbal warning in the employee's
file, in an effort to improve employee performance; provide an
escalating number of days in which the employee is suspended from work;
or end the employment of an individual who refuses to improve.
Employers often provide standardized instructions to employees through
the use of employee handbooks or manuals. An employee handbook is a
manual that sets forth the employer's standard employment practices and
establishes the expectations of employees. Employers often use an
employee handbook to protect themselves from lawsuits, such as wrongful
termination claims, by establishing a code of conduct for employees and
other guidelines applicable to employee terminations. Employee handbooks
typically include policies for compensation of employees; health and
other benefits; work hours; overtime; leaves of absence; holidays;
vacation time; rules of expected behavior; promotion; discipline and
disciplinary procedures; grievance; and termination.
