Disciplinary Action & Dismissal: Procedure and Justification
Disciplinary Action & Dismissal
What is disciplinary action?
- Justified grounds, lawful procedure, and proportionate penalty
- Skipping procedural requirements such as written notice puts the action’s validity at risk
- Performance issues require a chance to improve and a record first
The difference between a manager who knows disciplinary procedure and one who doesn’t is the number of options. Without it, you can only put up with the problem or fire the person. Once you know it, you see a ladder: verbal caution, written warning, reprimand, pay cut, suspension, demotion, dismissal. Discipline is not punishment but a staged intervention to change behavior, which is why raising it early, at a lower step, costs less. If you don’t put one warning on record in time, a dismissal six months later becomes an overreach.
Each level of discipline has its own legal limits. A pay cut cannot exceed half of one day’s average wage per incident, and the total cannot exceed one-tenth of total wages for a single pay period (Labor Standards Act, Article 95). Dismissal requires 30 days’ advance notice or at least 30 days’ ordinary wages in lieu, and it takes effect only with written notice stating the reason and date. An employee may file a remedy request with the Labor Relations Commission within 3 months of the dismissal date. Also check that workplaces with fewer than 5 regular employees are exempt from the unfair dismissal remedy and written notice provisions.
Mixing up exits that go by different names makes things worse. Recommended resignation is a departure by mutual agreement, while dismissal for managerial reasons requires entirely different conditions: an urgent business need, efforts to avoid dismissal, reasonable selection criteria, and consultation with the worker representative 50 days in advance (Article 24). Low performance alone rarely counts as grounds for discipline. You need a record showing that you set expectations in writing and offered an improvement period and support such as training or reassignment before you can rely on performance as grounds.
The mistake that blows up most often in practice is writing a vague reason like 'poor work attitude' on the notice, then adding new reasons later when the case is contested. Grounds not stated in writing are hard to establish after the fact, and no matter how clear the grounds are, a single procedural defect, such as skipping the employee’s chance to respond, can lead to an order for reinstatement and back pay. Pressuring someone to submit a resignation letter and then treating it as voluntary is also risky. Outcomes vary widely with the facts, so for a specific case, consult a labor law specialist and check the latest laws and regulations.
Hwi KimCEO of HRDIST & Talent Development Systems Consultant
Inwoo LeeExpert in Leadership, Communication & Performance ManagementThe Labor Standards Act prohibits employers from imposing dismissal or other penalties without just cause (Article 23), requires written notice of the reason and date of dismissal (Article 27), and provides a system for filing unfair dismissal remedy applications. Specific standards of judgment have been shaped through case law.
Let’s look at a hypothetical case: Company A, a food manufacturer with 210 employees. Employee B on Production Team 2 had logged 5 unexcused absences and 17 late arrivals over the past four months, but the team leader kept giving only verbal warnings, thinking, 'If I speak to them nicely, things will improve.' By the time HR took over, there was not a single line of record on file.
- After the HR head cross-checked four months of attendance system logs against team leaders’ messenger conversations, only 3 of the 5 reported unexcused absences met the actual criteria. The other 2 were reclassified as late arrivals with no explanation submitted.
- After confirming that Article 52 of the work rules lists 'three or more unexcused absences a month' as grounds for a reprimand, HR finished its pre-review and chose a sequence of written warning, then reprimand, rather than dismissal or suspension.
- Three days before the disciplinary committee met, HR hand-delivered a written notice to attend. At the hearing, Employee B stated, "I couldn’t make it in on time because of my night-time side job." The HR assistant manager recorded that statement in the minutes verbatim.
- Citing the fact that all four similar cases in the past three years ended in reprimands, the committee voted for a reprimand here as well. To a member who argued for suspension, the HR head explained, "If consistency breaks, the penalty itself gets overturned."
- HR delivered a reprimand notice stating the grounds, the provision relied on, and the objection procedure, and set a three-month observation period. The next quarter, Employee B’s tardiness fell from 17 instances to 2 and unexcused absences to 0, and there was no objection and no filing with the Labor Relations Commission.