Winning unemployment insurance (UI) claim protests can be difficult for employers because of a number of reasons including confusing processes and agency requirements, short timeliness requirements, difficulties in gathering evidence, etc.  One of the most important tools that employers possess is the employee corrective action document.  

Employee corrective action documents are warning letters documenting employee conduct issues. The names may vary for companies yet the motive behind all of them remains the same. These forms or letters are technically used and written by the human resource department of the company, highlighting when the job performance or behavior deviates from company norms or rules/policies, causing problems for the business productivity and efficiency.

The following are keys to ensuring that your employee corrective documentation is effective and helps you to win UI protests:

• Basic Employee Information - be sure your document identifies the employee it is intended to address.  Without this information, your document is difficult to defend.
• Detailed Information on the Offense - it is critical that the information regarding the issue that led to the corrective action is detailed and complete.
• Current Status in the Progressive Disciplinary Process - the employee must be informed of where they stand in your progressive disciplinary policy.  In other words, how did they get here and what is the next step if they violate policy again.
• Summarize Past Violations - ensure that, if applicable, past violations are summarized to show how the employee got to this stage in the process (reason for documentation, date of infraction, and disciplinary process level).
• Provide a Corrective Action Plan - how does the employee ensure that they do not violate policy and end up with more corrective action.  This plan must be reasonable and attainable for the employee or you risk it not holding up to scrutiny in a legal proceeding.
• Employee Statement - give the employee a chance to write up their side of the issue.
• Ensure You Get the Signatures - If you are giving the corrective action, you must sign the document, get the employee’s signature, and then ensure that it is also signed by a witness to the transaction (yes, you should have a witness present).

To improve your corrective action documentation is to improve your chances to win UI claim protests, which in turn should lower your overall UI costs.  These were just a few of the most important points to improve your document and your processes.  For more information, visit us on the web at www.unemploymenttracker.com.