A letter of misconduct is written to an employee when his or her behaviors are unethical or improper. Usually, it serves as a warning letter to that particular employee to inform him about his misconducting action that he or she needs to amend. If misconduct happens, the employer has to write a formal letter to warn the employee and not just issue an oral warning.
Things to Consider
Documentation: A formal written letter to the employee for the misconduct, ensures that the matter is serious and it needs to be amended as soon as possible. Also, it can be useful if the termination is to be carried out in the future.
Explain the Type of Misconduct: The nature of the misconduct must be explained in the letter, including the time and place it happened. Another thing that should be mentioned is the effect of that misconduct on the fellow employees, what impression are they left with and what they think about the situation.
Inform about the Consequences: The employer should tell the employee about the consequences of his behavior, what will and what might happen if he or she fails to make improvements.
Mention the Expected Improvement: The letter must be clear about what the employee is supposed to do, in order to deal with the misconduct, what the company is expecting from the employee and what company standards are to be followed.
Time or length of any Warning Issued: A warning can also be included, depending on the severity of the conduct, that the employee will be monitored, for a particular time, for his behavior with the fellow employees.
Keep it in the Records: As long as the warning period is active, the letter should be kept in the employee’s record files. In this case, if the employee misconducts again, the employer will be able to make the decision by taking all the relevant facts into account.
Types of Misconduct
To maintain an ethical and professional environment at a workplace, it is the responsibility of each and every employee to behave properly and professionally. Below are some of the examples of misconduct at a workplace:
Stealing or Theft: This can be from actually stealing something from the workplace to using office properties for personal use.
Discrimination: Any type of discrimination on the bases of race, sex, age, religion, etc. is considered misconduct.
Compromising of Confidentiality: Employees are forbidden to talk about any confidential information about the company.
Harassment or Gross Misconduct: Gross misconduct is considered so serious that it leads to dismissal without any letter or warning.
Sample Letters
1-
3 March 2020
John Adam
ABC Organization
New York, Street 7890
Dear Mr. Adam,
You are accused of behaving rudely with lower grade staff. I have been listening to these complaints about a long time but each time I was giving you an opportunity that you would be changed and had warned you verbally many times to bring some change in your relations with lower staff. I cannot bear this unfairness and misconduct on behalf of you and want my staff to be well mannered enough to know how to talk.
Your colleagues have also registered complaints against you that you are very ill-mannered and use abusive language while talking. I was surprised to hear that you slapped Mr. Luther who is a tea boy here and insulted him in the crowd. Such kind of stupidity is not expected from you. If you want to continue your job here then you must give me an explanation of the entire incident. Moreover, you must apologize to Mr. Luther for what you have done with him. If you do not do so I would then forward this matter to HR and they will handle the situation.
Keeping in view what has been said above, I am giving the last warning to you to show some positivity towards other staff members and be friendly with them. I want you to visit me tomorrow along with your explanation letter. Thank you.
Regards,
Albert York
File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad Size 19 Kb | Download
2-
3 March 2020
Mark Stefan
WER Organization
New York, Street 2348
Dear Mr. Stefan,
I am issuing this letter to you as a warning for your misconduct at the workplace. You are accused of harassing female staff members and were caught red-handed by Mr. Alexander who is a senior staff member and working with us for a long time. You are also accused of blackmailing Miss Eustacia when she tried to file a complaint against you; you threatened her to leak her videos that you had made privately.
Gentleman, I am strictly against all this and not allow anyone to disrupt the office atmosphere. You should thank Miss Eustacia that she didn’t go directly to HR. She discussed this matter with me and I tried to handle it by myself. I respect women and want all staff members to respect them also. Moreover, you have forgotten that our company’s policy is that whoever includes violating the company’s policies and environment and make things difficult for other employees would be dealt with strictly. You, therefore, are required to give all the details about your misconduct in written form to me tomorrow.
I am giving you another chance to work here but you must quit your bad habits. Next time if you caught doing this you would be responsible for its outcomes. Moreover, visit me tomorrow along with project details that I have handed over to you.
Regards,
Caprio Lock
File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad Size 21 Kb | Download