HRM textbook

474 PART 5 EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
FIGURE 14-6 Summary of Fair
Discipline Guidelines
Make sure the evidence supports the charge.
Make sure the employee s due process rights are protected.
Warn the employee of the disciplinary consequences.
The rule that was allegedly violated should be reasonably related to the efficient
and safe operation of the work environment.
Fairly and adequately investigate the matter before administering discipline.
The investigation should produce substantial evidence of misconduct.
Apply all rules, orders, or penalties evenhandedly.
The penalty should be reasonably related to the misconduct and to the employee s
past work.
Maintain the employee s right to counsel.
Don t rob a subordinate of his or her dignity.
Remember that the burden of proof is on you.
Get the facts. Don t base a decision on hearsay or on your general impression.
Don t act while angry.
In general, do not attempt to deal with an employee s bad attitude. Focus on improving
the specific behaviors creating the workplace problem.
Employee Privacy
For most people, invasions of privacy are neither ethical nor fair. 69 The four main
types of employee privacy violations upheld by courts are intrusion (locker room
and bathroom surveillance), publication of private matters, disclosure of medical
records, and appropriation of an employee s name or likeness for commercial
purposes. 70 (Breaching security of personnel files is a related problem, as we
discussed in Chapter 5 [Recruiting]). One survey of security professionals ranked
human resources last among departments securing such confidential data. 71 ) In
practice, background checks, monitoring off-duty conduct and lifestyle, drug testing,
workplace searches, and monitoring of workplace activities trigger most privacy
violations. 72 Some employers, such as Eastman Kodak, are appointing chief privacy
officers to ensure that the human resource management and other departments don t
endanger the company by conducting inappropriate investigations of job applicants
or employees. 73 We ll now look more closely at monitoring.
Employee Monitoring
Employee monitoring is pervasive. Biometrics using physical traits such as fingerprints
or iris scans for identification is one example. Thus, New York s Bronx Lebanon
Hospital uses biometric scanners to ensure that the employee who clocks-in in the
More employers are using iris
scanning to verify employee
identity.
Source: Tim Chapman/Getty Images USA, Inc..