Consistency and Reasonableness in Disciplinary Decisions

Protect yourself against court action regarding employee discipline by being consistent and logical when applying your disciplinary policies. Thoroughly document the process and the disciplinary actions you take with individual employees. Consistency is important when applying disciplinary actions. Applying disciplinary actions inconsistently could expose you to charges of discrimination or unlawful termination.

A case from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shows the pitfalls of inconsistent discipline. In Earl v. Nielsen Media Research Inc., the court concluded that an employee could proceed with an age discrimination case after she showed that her employer applied a formal¹