Disciplinary measures are an important tool to urge an employee to properly fulfill his/her contractual duties again. If the respective measure does not have the desired effect, it constitutes a starting point of further measures, culminating in termination of employment.
Legal advice applies to:
Checking of requirements, assistance with form and content
Types of disciplinary measures:
Aspects of a warning from the employer’s and the employee’s perspective:
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| The employer should pay particular attention to the legal effectiveness of a warning since the warning is the direct pre-stage of a notice of termination given for conduct-related reasons. As far as the employee’s performance and not the employer’s trust in the employee is concerned, a warning is generally prerequisite of the effectiveness of this kind of notice of termination. If the employer gives notice of termination without a prior (unsuccessful) warning in this situation, he/she runs the risk that the notice of termination is invalid. High severance claims in return for an agreement on the termination of employment must be expected. This shows that the employer should also correctly prepare a warning and meet its requirements of effectiveness. |
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| On the other hand, an employee should challenge a warning, which was given unjustifiably, in order to avoid that the employer gives notice of termination with reference to this warning at a later date. The employee can claim that the warning is not effective also later but he/she runs the risk that this is not as easily possible as before due to the period of time that has passed since. |
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