Change
HR
Consultancy
Autumn 2016
DEALING WITH NON COMPLIANCE IN THE
WORKPL ACE
If you have employees, you should have a clause within your disciplinary policy for dealing with
insubordination.
Insubordination occurs when an employee willfully disobeys or disregards a superior’s legitimate
directive. Abusive language by employees toward supervisors and others can also be considered
insubordination, as well as failing to wear the correct H&S PPE.
The reasons for not tolerating insubordination are obvious — employees need to know that you,
as the employer, are calling the shots. Insubordination clearly is unacceptable in an employment
relationship and you should be prepared to take action when it occurs.
Having a policy clause in place and following that will help if there is a tribunal involved as
a result of your actions. However, you also will need to be able to establish that you acted
appropriately.
If you are accused of discriminatory conduct because of your treatment of an allegedly
insubordinate employee, or if you want to challenge payment of unemployment benefits to a
worker fired for insubordination, you will generally have to show that:
•
a direct order was issued to an employee
•
the employee received and understood the order
•
the employee refused to obey the order through an explicit statement of refusal or through
non performance
In cases of abusive language, consider the context in which the incident occurred. An employee is
more likely to be found to have engaged in insubordination if the abusive language:
•
was not provoked by the supervisor
•
was spoken in the presence of other employees or customers
•
was not an example of shop talk in the workplace
Change
HR
Consultancy
STEPS TO TAKE PRIOR TO DISCIPLINING AN EMPLOYEE
If you encounter a situation where you think an employee is being insubordinate, before you discipline
the employee, ask yourself the following questions to make sure that discipline is the appropriate action
to take.
Assess how the order was issued. The best way to communicate an order is a clearly written memo or
order that explains who should do what, when it should be done, where they should do it, and how they
should do it. If orders are being communicated orally, make sure the employee understands what you
want.
•
•
•
•
Was the directive issued orally?
Was it issued face-to-face?
Was the directive a written memorandum?
Who gave the order?
Assess
the employee’s understanding of the order.
•
Was the directive clear?
•
Was the employee aware of the objectives of and duties imposed by the directive?
•
Did the employee directly refuse the order or circumvent it?
•
Was the refusal intentional?
•
What would have constituted reasonable compliance with the order?
Could other workplace factors have influenced the employee’s actions? It could be that, due to some
factors, the employee did not willfully intend to disobey.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Was the behaviour common in the workplace?
Was the conduct in any way provoked by a supervisor or co worker?
Did the employee exhibit a pattern of insubordinate conduct?
Has the employee been told what behaviour is unacceptable?
Were employees informed of policy?
Have you consistently enforced the policy?
Was the order a proper exercise of management authority?
Change
HR
Consultancy
Assess the appropriateness of the order. Maybe the employee had a good reason for not obeying the
order. The law protects employees who are fired or disciplined for not obeying orders that are in violation
of the law.
•
•
•
Was the employee’s refusal to obey based upon legal rights?
Did the order require the employee to perform unsafe or illegal duties?
Were the rules or directives related to the efficient and safe operation of the business?
Assess the impact of the insubordinate conduct.
•
•
•
•
•
Did it disrupt workflow or harm the business?
Did it pose a safety hazard to the employee or co workers?
Did it affect the morale of other employees?
Was it unacceptable conduct because of the employee’s skills or professional level?
Could the conduct be corrected easily?
If after considering all of these issues, you conclude the employee’s actions were insubordinate, how
should you handle the situation?
Change
HR
Consultancy
HANDLING AN INSUBORDINATE WORKER
Your knee-jerk reaction to an insubordinate employee may be to lose your temper, to become abusive
in return, or to terminate the employee immediately. While it’s hard to control your emotions during
a stressful situation like this, you must.
Termination may, in fact, be the appropriate response to an insubordinate employee, but don’t fire
the employee on the spot. If termination is appropriate, it will still be clearly appropriate after
you’ve cooled off. Of course being abusive in return is never appropriate.
Although immediate termination may be required in the most serious situations, counselling or a
progressive step discipline programme is usually the most appropriate vehicle for disciplining an
insubordinate employee. Your disciplinary policy should give you room to maneuver, so you can
consider the following:
•
Does an employee’s past record indicate an insubordinate attitude? If not, perhaps a
warning should be used the first time. If the employee has a history of this kind of behaviour, stricter
sanctions should be considered.
•
Is the discipline appropriate and related to the severity of the conduct? If the conduct
is serious, a light or token punishment will not deter the employee (or other employees) from
exhibiting this type of behaviour. On the other hand, if an employee is punished severely for a
minor infraction, the purpose of the discipline could backfire and make the employee’s attitude and
morale even worse.
Creating an Insubordination Clause
While some kinds of policies allow for many variations, insubordination clauses within a disciplinary
procedure is to the point, and more generic.
If you would like advice from Trivolution in drafting an insubordination policy please get in touch
with us!
Unit 5, Dinnington Business Centre
Sheffield, S25 3QX