History
If you don’t document an employee who shot a gun through the men’s bathroom, out the women’s bathroom, and into the IT closet of a crowded office, did it really happen? This story will highlight the need for proper Human Resources and Human Resource Management.
When it came to this specific unemployment case, no, it did not happen… Here is the story about when a company I was consulting for had an employee who negligently discharged his weapon in the office and still won his unemployment case because there was no documentation to substantiate the employer’s argument.
The company I consulted for was a cannabis security and transportation provider in the early days of the Oklahoma cannabis boom. The company has a pretty typical success story where the company began in a garage with two guys and a van.
Then the Oklahoma cannabis market exploded, and so did their company. The company went from three to 55 employees in a matter of months. As you can imagine, there was little time to build proper HR or business practices with fast growth.
So, I came as a consultant to try and usher in HR policies and implement some business software to streamline their business processes. But in this case, it was a little too late.
The Gunshot Heard Around the Office
I got a call at about ten at night from an employee saying there was a gunshot at the office. So I immediately called the Operations Director, the highest ranking actual employee, and had him meet with the employee who discharged his weapon.
The gunshot was at eye level in the men’s bathroom. The bullet went straight through the men’s bathroom into the women’s bathroom and straight into the IT closet on the other side of the women’s restroom.
If the bullet hole had been anywhere but eye level, I could have justified the argument of an accidental discharge. But, It was clear that the gun was being held at eye level when fired.
I can only picture this employee practicing his quickdraw from the movies, and he got excited and pulled the trigger a little too hard, and BOOM!
The Conversation
When the director initially spoke with the employee, he was embarrassed and asked the company not to disclose his reason for termination. However, the director decided this was probably a good idea as we did not want to scare or cause any employees anxiety about a gun being discharged in the middle of the office.
So nonetheless, the director had a conversation with the employee, and he was dismissed for cause. Seemed like a pretty cut-and-dry termination, right…?
I mean, clearly, this is a negligent incident that, by the grace of god himself, no one got hurt. Something that not much thought went into, you know, “employee shot a hole in the wall during business hours, employee dismissed.”
Well, my friends, that’s where you’re wrong… and an age-old question comes into play: If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, did it make a noise?
Which, in this case, translates to: If an employee shoots a gun in the office but does not get a formal write-up, did it really happen?
Given the nature of this incident and how cut-and-dry it seemed, I did not think to follow up with the director to ensure he completed all of the proper termination paperwork. Instead, it just seemed like the logical thing to happen.
Oh, one thing I have not mentioned yet is the company’s director was not really involved in the day-to-day operations but involved enough that he had the title director of operations. He was hands-off to the point that many of his decisions were not thought out. Think of a less fun Michael Scott but just as dysfunctional.
Where Things Begin to Fall Apart
Initially, when this employee filed for unemployment, we submitted our argument that the employee negligently discharged his firearm in the office. Given the seriousness of the incident, he was terminated immediately. This argument was sufficient to get the employee benefits denied due to being fired for cause.
To my surprise, this employee appealed the incident because he knew there was no documentation of the incident, and no other employee could back up our statement because we kept the incident to a minimum to avoid any undue anxiety with the other employees.
But, my naive self never expected this employee to be sworn in on an appeal trial and claim that this incident never happened and that he has no idea why he was terminated.
But that is precisely what happened, and he won the appeal, which led to unemployment benefits being awarded. Okay, okay, lesson learned!
Lessons Learned
The point I want to make for you is that even though documenting everything seems pointless. I promise it will benefit you one day.
Most small businesses believe in a family style of running a business, and it may be awkward to write someone up. They may also believe that a verbal warning is sufficient in correcting the behavior of employees.
While, in some cases, verbal warnings may be appropriate, but most businesses fail to understand that even verbal warnings need to be documented in some way. Either by a follow-up email or a quick employee conversation form.
If you are interested in a free, simple employee conversation form to help you better document your conversations with employees, complete the contact form on my website and ask for the employee conversation form.
I do not want this article to be taken out of context and create more work for you. So keep it simple! If you have a conversation with an employee about their performance, just write it down or send an email recapping the conversation!
Anything is better than no documentation! It doesn’t have to be some fancy document filled with legal jargon! It can be simple, “talked with the employee about [topic X] on this date.”
I will provide an article on my blog that outlines how to document an employee conversation. Once completed, I will link that article here.
Thank you for reading! This is my first blog post; please take it easy on me! If you have any recommendations or comments, please let me know!
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