If a suspension is one of the steps in your policy, consider the concept of suspended layoffs - layoffs or suspensions that are imposed on the employment record but are not actually enforced. This allows the next step to be termination but does not reward the employee with time off. In any event, suspensions should not be allowed to be taken with vacation or other paid or unpaid time off, including holidays . Exclusions from progressive discipline. For example, if you specify suspension or termination as discipline for gambling and you do not allow any exceptions, then you must apply that rule to all forms of gambling, including office football pools.
Many large corporations do.
However, for a small employer, putting these rules in writing for employees may cause more problems than it solves. Also, you must be certain that you follow your own rules to the letter, each and every time an incident arises. If you have only a handful of employees and problems are rare, you may have a hard time remembering what you were supposed to do. Finally, it becomes difficult to fine-tune your system as you gain more experience over time because the first written system you give to employees can create a legally enforceable expectation that it will not change. For these reasons, we do not recommend that you put your system in writing for employees to see.