What is a written warning?
Most people know what a written warning is. It is a document issued by an employer to an employee asserting that the employee’s performance or conduct has been unsatisfactory and that the employee is at risk of dismissal. The warning may contain a period of time by which the employee has to improve. A warning is often used to support a decision to dismiss and should therefore be treated seriously by employees.
What can I do about a written warning?
Employers usually have a general discretion to issue written warnings unilaterally. This means warnings can be issued for trivial or personal reasons with little to no external scrutiny. There is also no universal law in Australia that requires an employer to issue a certain number of warnings before they can dismiss an employee. Accordingly, if you have received one warning, you should not automatically assume that another will follow before any dismissal.
The lawyers at Jewell Hancock Employment Lawyers can assist you in challenging the issuing of a warning, negotiating the terms upon which a warning has been issued and making an application to the Fair Work Commission if the warning has been implemented for an unlawful reason or is part of a general pattern of workplace bullying. We can also assist you to rely on deficiencies in a warning to support an unfair dismissal application.
It is important to act quickly if a warning is issued.
Contact us today to arrange a no-obligation confidential discussion with one of our experienced lawyers.
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