Guide in Writing Sample Warning Letter for Employees

Employee warnings are confronting, awkward and tend to be avoided as much as possible. When the time comes that they are necessary, it is important to use a sample warning letter to aid you throughout the process. Warning letters are not a compulsory legal requirement but they are considered useful to confirm and address underperformance concerns with the employee.

Warning letters are to be produced and submitted after the meeting with the relevant employee has taken place, in order to follow-up and clarify any questions that the employee was previously unsure of. The meeting that takes place as well as the follow-up letter is issued in aim to help resolve the negative conduct or underperformance that is taking place before the situation escalates and results in termination.

Although warning letters are not necessarily a legal requirement, if the meetings between the employee and the employer do not result in a satisfactory agreement or performance improvement and they are dismissed, there is potential for the employee to claim that they were unfairly dismissed. In this situation, Fair Work Australia will take into consideration whether the employee was warned about the performance or conduct issues and will question whether they were provided with a reasonable opportunity to make improvements within a reasonable time frame.

A sample warning letter is a good reference point when it comes to preparing to confront an unhappy or misbehaving employee. In some serious cases, warnings are not considered an appropriate way to address the situation and an immediate termination may be the only solution. This may include, for example, termination due to an unsuccessful probation period or serious misconduct. If this is the case, it is important that the employer identifies the exact behavior performed by the employee that was considered unacceptable and the impact it had on the business. The employee must be informed of this directly and they must be made aware of their employment termination at the time as well. The employee must be allowed to be represented by a support person as this will be questioned by Fair Work Australia if any unfair dismissal claims were to arise. This notification in person should be conducted preceding the termination letter.

Small business owners must refer to the ‘Small Business Fair Dismissal Code’ when it comes to warnings and terminations of their employees as different rules and standards apply. A small business is considered to have 15 employees, calculated by a simple headcount of all regular employees (this may include casual and part-time staff). Employees that are employed by a small business owner may not make an unfair dismissal claim until after their first 12 months of employment has been completed. In contrast, employees at larger businesses are entitled to make a claim after 6 months of employment.

Visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website for more information and access to a wide range of sample warning letters as well as procedures that will guide you through the managing underperformance process. If ever in doubt, seek advice from a lawyer in order to avoid any unfair dismissal claims from arising that may seriously damage your business.