If the drug or alcohol abuse while on-the-job causes the disobedience, then the obvious solution would be to dismiss the worker. Perhaps one of the most important issues when disciplining your workers is saving their dignity, so when they are a rehabilitated employee, they will still have a sense of pride about working for the business. Give the firm grounds for the layoff including the business's new strategic direction and business pressures. If you write the notice properly and use it in a proven separation method, you'll lower your chances of a lawsuit and lessen the disruptions in your workplace. Another reaction you might get is the "staring into space." This is where the worker stops listening and gets a faraway look in her eyes. This sample discipline letter should obviously define the prior issues with the worker and then spell out the disciplinary action taken in the second paragraph. If the worker refuses to sign it, have another supervisor sign pointing out that he or she witnessed your discussion with the jobholder. In particular, for performance problems and minor misconduct, written warnings serve as notice of the standards and your expectations.

Hold a Meeting: If the layoff affects many company personnel, you might announce the reorganization to the entire staff at once. If you layoff both, you would get a illegal layoff claim for sexual harassment from both women. I hope you won't need to use your newfound skills too many times in the future, but it's something any boss will need. As a sole proprietor, you have to remain objective as you collect information in the exit interview, and can't get defensive at the statements made by the employee. This evidence should show what the jobholder did, when the jobholder did it, and what you did to help them. However, this doesn't mean that you must meet all your employee's desires. Before this you had been warned that this is unacceptable practice by a project manager such as yourself.