I feel that I should give my employee a written warning, should I?

Question

I am the administrator of a nursing home. My DON has been acting very unprofessionally lately. I gave her a verbal warning for over stepping her bounds on 1-29. Yesterday at 8am she scheduled 2 agency nurse's to cover call-off's for 3rd shift. Agency nurse's are very expensive. My DON is aware that she must clear this expense through me, however she did not. She then had to leave early yesterday at 10a due to a sick child. She had plenty of time to notify me of the need for agency, but chose not to. I feel I should give her a written warning for not following the chain of command and not maintiaing professional standards. Am I right? or am I over-reacting?

Answer 1

That sounds very unprofessionsal. Although it wasn't her fault about the sick child, she could have told you about it. I think that you should either go to her again face to face, or write her up a warning. And No, I don't believe you are over reacting.

Answer 2

Unfortunately this isn't the case and each employer may have a different, progression action process in place. I worked as an HR Representative and managers can give you a verbal warning and then write the warning up, indicating it was given verbally, and placing it in your record. The reason this is done is to have a record of the discussion with the employee and doesn't require your signature. The verbal warnings were your opportunity to right the situation before it progressed to the need for a formal write-up leading to termination. While many employers indicate they may give 3 warnings prior to termination if the reasons for the termination are severe enough that it's felt termination is warranted they may do so. Please note, most employers are also "at will" employers, meaning they can terminate for any reason. What I would suggest you do is appeal if you feel that they are unfairly blocking your unemployment benefits. This would then force you both to appear before the unemployment board where your employer would need to provide substantiation of the reaons your were terminated. They would bring your employee file, any write-ups, attendance records (possibly), and a copy or copies of the sections in their employee handbook that address the reasons behind your termination. If you lose the appeals process you are completely out of luck and have no other recourse. Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

I would ask yourself , is this new behaviour for this person, and if so, what precipitated it ? If it is just something that has come up recently, then before giving her the written warning, I would request a one-on-one talk with the person & ask if there is anything you could do if she/he is dealing with something that is upsetting the person's ability to perform properly at work. If this has been an on-going thing, with no explanation forthcoming, then the written warning could be a strong possibility.

Answer 4

You are the administrator, you shouldn't be second guessing yourself. If something is done or not done that you have to consider, this is not over-reacting, it's doing your job. First a verbal then a written then termination. That's how it is in all fields. Obviously the verbal didn't affect her, now try the written, hopefully she will see you are serious and that she needs to start doing her job better.

Answer 5

I think you are correct. I too work in a nursing home as the MRD and I think your DON needs to realize that you are the boss and things like that need to go through the administrator.

Answer 6

A written warning let's her know that she has committed a serious infraction. There is no room for disrespect nor insubordination.