Written warning

mondaysonly

Hi Guys,
Can anyone tell me what happens if I refuse to sign a awarning from my boss?
Been wrongly accussed of something but they are insisting that I take a warning.

claire983

If your in a union?? bring the matter up with your union rep, thats what they are there for.. If not, go to Human Resources and fight it..

wmpdd3

there should be an investigation 1st, did you get the chance to explain?

you should have a witness when receiving a warning, if you dont sign it is noted you wouldnt sign it and you will be given the right to appeal, maybe to a higher person if available.

i would write why you wont accept the warning, this could be entered into the meetings minutes.

keep it simple such as 'I was not in the room'

as apposed to 'I wouldn't ever do that'

Mr. Loverman

Could you define "wrongly accused"?

You don't normally get a written warning unless you've done something pretty serious.

mikemac

Is this happening to others, some companies are looking for a cheap way to get rid of staff. If you take this warning and you are innocent you might see yourself in another meeting and being let go very soon.

Find your employment manual and read it

For every meeting bring a witness

Don't sign and ask for this to be investigated at a higher level.

MyKeyG

mondaysonly wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Can anyone tell me what happens if I refuse to sign a awarning from my boss?
Been wrongly accussed of something but they are insisting that I take a warning.

I have to reiterate the other poster who said 'define wrongly accused' because without some detail any advice given based on your OP will ultimately be conjecture since nobody knows the facts concerning the occurrence.

Ultimately if it's a first written warning it's for something relatively small (in my experience anyway) so I'll assume they didn't find your finger prints on a hammer lying next to the CEO's corpse.

There are a couple of main factors to consider

Is the suspected behavior outlined in the letter?

What is the reason your superior has decided that there is sufficient proof to believe you committed this behavior?

What reasoning did you offer to prove that this is an erroneous accusation

I'm not accusing you I'm just being practical, the company feel they have sufficient evidence. Yes companies are looking to cut their workforce but they wouldn't be stupid enough to contrive a reason. How did they get the wrong end of the stick for example? If a colleague is claiming you told them to stick something where the sun don't shine then it can not be used against you since it's their word against yours. If on the other hand someone jokingly sent a crude mail to someone else from your computer while you were in the toilet then it's a little more difficult to defend.

I presume you're not part of a union because that would have been your first stop. Your HR manger is someone you can talk to but their job is to manage the resource not fight it's corner in these situations. If the company has decided you're guilty the HR manager will invariably concur.

As far as I know and this may be the answer to your question you do not have to sign a written warning however it will still be entered into your company file. Your company will consider it discipline issued whether you acknowledge it by signature or not. It's then up to you to fight it.

Nody

mondaysonly wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Can anyone tell me what happens if I refuse to sign a awarning from my boss?
Been wrongly accussed of something but they are insisting that I take a warning.

You can refuse to sign it and all that will happen is that HR will pull in two managers in the room with you with HR adding that you refused to sign it on the warning but that you was read the whole warning and the two managers signing confirming this. It is then added to your file and it makes no difference if you signed it or not.

You signing the warning is only to accknowledge that you was made aware of it, the reason and it's content, nothing more.

Shield

It could also be the first strike in a three-strike process though.

Eoin

psni wrote: »

It could also be the first strike in a three-strike process though.

Exactly - it could mean any number of things, depending on the procedure that is in place where the OP works. Employment law doesn't state that every company must have the same steps in the procedure, and what exactly happens at what step.

MyKeyG

psni wrote: »

It could also be the first strike in a three-strike process though.

That was my guess too. My last company gave a verbal, two written's (depending on the time between transgressions) and a final written. Even if it's the first though it's a messy business to get into. Managers will often take into consideration you have a disciplinary letter on your file and may be quicker to judgement the next time.

bbam

Nody wrote: »

You can refuse to sign it and all that will happen is that HR will pull in two managers in the room with you with HR adding that you refused to sign it on the warning but that you was read the whole warning and the two managers signing confirming this. It is then added to your file and it makes no difference if you signed it or not.

You signing the warning is only to accknowledge that you was made aware of it, the reason and it's content, nothing more.

That's what I've done in the past, just have it countersigned by another manager..
I'd recommend signing but also make a formal written appeal as a reply, this will also have to be put into your record and be fully investigated by a manager one level up (if that's possible). I'm not saying it will have it overturned but it's probably your best course of action..

Eoin

Again, this all depends on the disciplinary procedure that the OP's company has in place. All employment law does is recommend that a fair policy is put in place. It doesn't say what the exact steps have to be.

Mr. Loverman

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Could you define "wrongly accused"?

You don't normally get a written warning unless you've done something pretty serious.

You would have thought. I got one (my only one) in a contract job in as nasty, stuck-up little company where a bunch of 3 or 4 petty, jealous, spiteful women took a dislike to me from day one and decided to report me to the HR woman, who was a bigger b1tch than any of them.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I was pulled into the room with management and HR TWO WEEKS after my starting date and accused of misconduct because I had told someone I wasn't sure if we used Swift Post (it was my first week on the job and I told her I'd check and get back to her, which I did) and because I'd put a call through to someone who'd asked for no calls that day (it wasn't me, it was the temp girl and when I said that, I was told I was still responsible because I was the permanent employee(??!)) All petty hearsay and no evidence at all, and I was presented with a written warning. When I tried to state the facts as they were, I was accused of being defensive. I laugh about it now, but at the time I was mortified. I had rent and bills to pay and I'd been working my ass off learning this new job and here I was being told I was useless and had a bad attitude. I refused to sign the warning and was told I needed to improve asap.

I found another job and handed in my notice a month or two later, but that was a few years ago. If it happened now, I'd be trapped there, in a job where people had it in for me for no good reason, wondering when my next warning was going to come and frightened to say anything at work in case some snotty, nasty bitch used it against me. It's scary how unprofessional some companies can be.