Each week, we post a thought-provoking question for your consideration. Here’s our last question, along with your answers . . .

What should I do if an employee refuses to sign an evaluation or written warning?

a. Write it the way the employee wants it and ask him/her to sign that. (0%)
b. Fire him/her for insubordination. (2%)
c. Add a statement at the end indicating that the employee disagrees with the contents and ask him/her to sign that. If the employee refuses, indicate that on the document and ask him/her to sign that and then document what transpired in your notes. (97%)
d. Issue the employee a written warning for refusing to sign the written warning and ask him/her to sign that. (1%)

Well done. The correct answer is indeed “c.”

Taking this approach can come in very handy in litigation. It might sound obvious, but on more than one occasion when I was in private practice I had the painful experience of trying to litigate a case where the employee was able to claim that he never saw a key warning or performance because it was unsigned. If you always follow this simple procedure, you’ll never have that problem.

Our viewers are now batting an even .600 (12 right, 8 wrong) on our weekly questions. The next one will be coming your way soon.

Thanks for your participation!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 5:23 am and is filed under Question of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.