Employee Disciplinary Policy

An Employee Disciplinary Policy ("Policy") specifies the standards and procedures for responding to incidents that go against the policy of the organization. It includes clear guidelines for expected conduct and consequences for breaking the same.

Having a properly drafted Disciplinary Policy will help the organization in different ways including:

• to protect the reputation and goodwill of the organization;
• ensuring equal treatment for all employees;
• avoiding legal consequences due to arbitrary termination or actions;
• a proper mechanism for reporting grievances;
• to identify the erring employee and initiate the steps to rectify the same and so on.

This Policy is a one-sided agreement drafted by the organization without any negotiation with the employees and employees will have only the option to sign and acknowledge the same.

This policy can be used by any type of organization despite their size or type of business and can be used as a supplementary document to Employment Agreement, Employee Code of Conduct Policy, Non-Compete Agreement, Remote Work Policy, and Employee Privacy Policy.

How to use this document?

This policy covers the following important areas:

• Scope - this defines the categories of employees covered and excluded under this Policy.
• General guidelines: this includes the general guidelines to the employees and employers with regard to the implementation of this policy.
• Gross misconduct - defines the acts/omissions on the part of employees considered as gross misconduct.
• Disciplinary Procedures - this includes the verbal warning, written warning, final written warning, suspension, termination and so on and procedures to be followed under each step.
• Disciplinary Action Committee - this includes the details of the committee including the name and details of the committee members, quorum, and so on.
• Procedures of Disciplinary Action Committee - this includes the procedures to be followed by the committee including investigation, collection of evidence, hearing, making reports, and so on.
• Appeal - this includes the rights to appeal of the employee against whom the action has been taken including the grounds of appeal, period of appeal, reply to the appeal and so on.

Once the policy is drafted, it can be circulated to the employees through electronic medium or in physical copies. The organization may ask the employees to acknowledge this policy and send it back for record purposes. It is better to incorporate this document in employment agreements and get it signed at the time of joining the organization.

It is always better to make the policy accessible to all employees of the organization and update them whenever there are any changes made to this policy.

Applicable laws

This policy is covered under the general employment acts and rules of concerned states and the rules under the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 and the Factories Act of 1948 may also be applicable. The aggravated forms of derelictions on the part of employees may be covered under the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

How to modify the template?

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.