Presented below is a hypothetical fact pattern based on a compilation of questions related to discipline and termination issues received by Associated Industries’ In-house Counsel. 

The information below is not a substitution for competent legal advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship between Associated Industries’ In-house Counsel and any readers or recipients of this information.  Additionally, this material reflects the current state of the law at the time of development.  Where specific legal issues arise, recipients or readers should seek private legal counsel.

THE DILEMMA

Approximately six months ago, ACME Manufacturing hired Jane as a project manager. According to the employee handbook, a copy of which she was provided, Jane’s first three months of employment would be on a probationary status.

Following satisfactory completion of the three-month period, Jane would receive a performance review and be eligible for benefits afforded all full time employees. Included in the employee manual was a detailed description of the employer’s progressive discipline policy, which provided, among other things, that at management’s discretion an employee may be subject to progressive discipline, including a verbal warning, written warning, last chance agreement, and discharge if the employee’s behavior was not corrected.

During her first three months of employment, Jane’s supervisor was not particularly impressed with her performance. Her project reports were often late or incomplete; many of her team members complained behind her back regarding her ill-temper and poor project management style; and she generally did not get along well with ACME’s customers.

Despite these performance issues, Jane’s supervisor did not document these complaints. Instead, the supervisor periodically addressed the issues during informal conversations with Jane. At the conclusion of the probationary period, Jane received a notice that she was eligible for the health and retirement benefits programs, but did not receive a performance review or evaluation.

For the next three months, Jane’s performance was neither substantially better nor worse. Her supervisor continued to receive occasional complaints about Jane’s temper, however, and the morale of her team began to suffer. Finally, after six months of employment, Jane was summoned to the supervisor’s office.

She was presented with a last chance agreement, which outlined various performance deficiencies, and set forth a time line by which Jane’s performance had to improve or her employment would be terminated. Jane was shocked and angered by the agreement since she had never received more than informal counseling in the past. Jane noted that she had not been afforded the progressive discipline process outlined in the manual. She became upset and stormed out of the office.

The employer would now like to revoke the last chance agreement and discharge Jane outright. What should ACME do? 

For the answer, Read More.

Closing the uninsureds’ gap creates one gaping hole in the system

Associated Industries wouldn’t be the organization it is today without our Board members – past and present.  Each month, our newsletter will highlight a Board Member. This month, we introduce Bill Robinson.

How long have you been a Member of A.I.?

Since 1992.

What brought you to the Board? 

Mike Murphy (Jim DeWalt’s predecessor) asked me to serve. Jim DeWalt has done wonderful things with A.I. and it has been very exciting for me to play a small part in its success.  I am very proud to be a Board Member and a past Board Chair. With the notable exception of myself, the Board is a blue ribbon panel of a cross-section of the professional community. My term on the Board sunsets at the end of next year.  There are open Board positions, and I strongly advise CEOs who are members to let Jim know if they are interested in being on the Board.

What do you think is the best benefit of being an A.I.  Member?

The broad spectrum of professional expertise at A.I. is a particularly valuable resource to small businesses such as mine.    

What sort of work does your company, Robinson Research, perform?

Robinson Research is a full-service marketing research company. We design and execute all types of surveys, focus groups, mock trials, feasibility studies, real-time electronic data collection, product placements, mystery shopper programs, business-to-business research, taste tests, advertising tests and employee surveys. We conduct surveys all over the world (English is the default language of mainframe computer operators), which means that we often keep very nontraditional hours. We do a lot of utility, grocery, health care, financial institution, water/sewer, forest, mainframe computer, transit and non-profit projects.

How long have you been involved in research work?

I started doing executive level one-on-one interviews in 1979, added mystery shopper programs in 1982  and  became a full-service operation in 1985.  We were the Spokane Office of Market Trends, a Seattle based national research company until I bought our freedom in 1991. We have had as many as 40 employees, but in 2005, we did some “right-sizing,” which was painful at the time, but ultimately proved to be the correct path.       

One of my favorite clients is Matt Carroll, a Forestry Professor at WSU Pullman.  Over the years, we have performed a string of focus groups around the nation on subjects pertaining to the problems that arise as more and more people build their dream homes adjacent to public forests.

I love helping local businesses determine how they are perceived by their customers and potential customers, relative to their competitors. We use the research to fine tune their image and positioning, hopefully increasing profits.

Clients often assume that I am a “numbers guy,” but actually I am a “words guy.” I work with numbers, but only as a means to the end of writing about them and telling clients what the numbers mean.

Are you a Spokane native?

My parents moved to Spokane from Chewelah when I was four years old.  My ancestors on both sides homesteaded the area where Ferry and Okanogan Counties meet the BC, Canada border. I grew up in Dogtown – the area due east of Hillyard, on the “wrong” side of the giant railroad yards. The sheathing lumber on our house had little mountain goat silhouettes, suggesting that our house was built from purloined boxcar lumber. Renowned “proto-hippie” Willie Willey’s last address was directly across the street from my childhood home.

Editor’s note: If you have ever participated in the Lilac Bloomsday Race, you may have met Robinson and not known it. He is the Bloomsday “Turkey Vulture” who roosts on top of Doomsday Hill.

How did you get involved in Bloomsday? How long ago? And where did the Turkey Vulture idea come from?

When I twelve, I was napping in a bear grass clearing in the mountains east of Chesaw, WA.  I was awakened by a moving shadow that turned out to be a huge turkey vulture checking me out.  As it left the clearing, it slowly circled, riding thermals instead of flapping its wings. I got to observe it at close range …and it made a big impression on me. It was simultaneously the most macabre, graceful and magnificent creature I had ever seen.     

In 1985, for some reason, I started having visions of a huge turkey vulture costume and my dreams were filled with sorting out all the technical details (think “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). I figured the only way to get past the vision was to just build it.  I built the vulture as my costume for Halloween 1986, then stored it in my garage. On Bloomsday 1987, I just decided to take it to Doomsday Hill to entertain the runners and shake its feathers out.  I never anticipated the levels of media and community interest.

People often assume that I am sweltering inside the vulture. After a harsh lesson from making a giant praying mantis costume that caused my head to peel, I designed the vulture from the wearer’s “comfort module” outward. I have two electric fans ducting fresh air throughout the costume. The costume is comfortable for five hours of continuous wear through heat, rain, snow, anything but high winds.   

Although the Lilac Bloomsday Foundation is a client of Robinson Research, the vulture has no official Bloomsday status. On the first Sunday every May, I am just another street lunatic making a spectacle of myself.            

Associated Industries Bright Promise Program enters year two

In the last few weeks, members of the Associated Industries Bright Promise Program Selection Committee received 49 scholarship applications from Eastern Washington University and 53 scholarship applications from the two Spokane Community Colleges.

On Thursday, April 29th, members of the Selection Committee met to discuss the candidates for the scholarships designed to provide half of a year’s tuition.

Thank you to the following Selection Committee Members who have literally spent hours making some very difficult decisions regarding many very deserving candidates:

Recipients will be announced in late May, and a reception is scheduled for the scholarship recipients in early October.

Voice your opinions to your legislators

Associated Industries does not endorse any political candidate or point of view. However, we do want to let you know when there are opportunities to speak with your elected officials and how to find out more about what’s going on in Olympia and beyond. As we receive information from our elected officials, we will make every effort to pass that information on to you.

REP. KEVIN PARKER (R) (6th Leg. District) In Representative Parker’s March 25, 2010 email update, he outlines some of the differences between the House and Senate tax increase proposals. Read the full email here.

REP. JOHN DISCOLL (D) (6th Leg. District) Representative Driscoll news and updates can be found here.

REP. JOE SCHMICK (R) (9th Leg. District) Representative Schmick discusses what he believes has been a misuse of tax payer’s money in the Legislature’s “special” session. Read his full comments here.

SEN. CHRIS MARR (D) (6th Leg. District) Sen. Marr’s latest e-newsletter discusses the passage of Senate Bill 6627 which will provide residents who live in Spokane and work in Idaho a new way to access prescription drugs. Read the e-newsletter here.

REP. TIMM ORMSBY (D) (3rd Leg. District) For news and updates visit Representative Ormsby’s website here.

It's our hope you will take the time to listen and communicate with your representative and give your attention to the issues that affect our region, and our country. It's our privilege and our duty as citizens to share our ideas and voice our opinions on issues that are important to us.

NON PROFIT & SOCIAL
SERVICE AGENCIES:

Associated Industries and the United Way of Spokane County invite you to discover ways to set your compensation strategy in a changing environment. Learn more about the Non-Profit COMPENSATION SURVEY 2010.