A Table of Penalties is a list of the infractions committed most frequently by agency employees, along with a suggested range of penalties for each. The penalties are graduated in severity based on whether an employee has no previous record of misconduct, has a single previous incident of documented misconduct, has two previous incidents of documented misconduct, etc. More serious types of misconduct have a more serious suggested penalty or range of penalties for a first offense than less serious types. A Table of Penalties, as stated previously, contains a suggested range of penalties. It is a guide to discipline, not a rigid standard.
Deviations are allowable for a variety of reasons.
For example, when an employee is being charged with multiple offenses at the same time, it may be appropriate to exceed the maximum suggested penalty for all of the individual offenses. Again, when an employee has repeatedly committed the same offense, even though the employee is being charged with the offense for the first time, it may be appropriate to exceed the maximum suggested penalty. When the offense the employee committed is especially serious, compared to normal degree of the stated offense, there may be a basis for exceeding the maximum suggested penalty. On the other hand, there may be occasions when it may be appropriate to assess a penalty below the minimum suggested for the particular offense. In either event, when assessing a penalty outside the suggested range, there should be a reasonable explanation to distinguish why the penalty is outside the norm, a reason that can be explained to third parties in the event of a review.