“Employee Handbooks and Progressive Discipline Policies,” Mississippi Bankers Association HR Action Meeting, speaker: Adams and Reese attorney Scott Hetrick, June 10, 2014.
Article summary: Under the “risk management” approach to human resources management, an employer should set the standards for its policies and practices at a level that it is certain it will enforce uniformly throughout the organization. It is not a good idea to establish a policy or practice that the employer cannot or does not intend to enforce consistently. To determine the likelihood of uniform enforcement, the employer should be able, with proper documentation, to sustain the discharge of an employee for violation of a policy, and should be willing to accept the consequences of the resignation of a good employee over the issue of enforcement of the policy.