National Clothesline

e have a model employee handbook on our website, as well as some model personnel forms. The Internet is full of such freebies. With very little effort, you can locate forms and policies sophisticated enough to run a Fortune 500 company.

Unfortunately, these forms need to be filled out with English words and sentences. And very

few employers have the training or skills to write personnel documents in a way that will avoid lawsuits and protect their businesses. In fact, most employers would benefit more by taking a writing class than a class on labor and employment law.

Rule Number One: Do not write like a lawyer.

In other words, write simply and clearly. “John whacked his supervisor across the face with a coat hanger.” Do not write: “John engaged in inappropriate behavior of a violent nature designed to inflict personal injury on his reporting authority.” If you were a juror, which description would tell you why the employee was fired?

Rule Number Two: Avoid meaningless or subjective words.

“Attitude, nature, troublemaker, pain-in-the-neck, and “inappropriate” are such words. Describe the behavior that the employee has engaged in, and allow the reader to conclude whether the employee has a “bad attitude” or is a “troublemaker.” In fact, employment cases have been lost where, for example, words like “attitude” and “troublemaker” have been applied to minorities.

Rule Number Three: Tell a story.

“Sally was late on May 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10. She was given a disciplinary warning on May 6, and Sally stated that she understood her late arrivals were causing problems with customers and the other employees. Sally was two hours late today, and she offered no excuse other than ‘I can’t just seem to get to work on time’.“ That description is better than: “Sally was fired for lateness.”

Rule Number Four: Remember who will be reading your labor and personnel forms.

If an employee sues or files a charge of discrimination, the documents you have written will be read by lawyers representing the employee, government employees, judges, jurors, and possibly newspaper reporters who have some interest in the case.

Your writing should be clear enough that all these people, including semi-literate jurors, understand what happened and why you took the action you did.

Rule Number Five: Use modern English.

This is not as silly as it seems. Words like herein, hereinafter, aforementioned, and wherefore have no place in legal writing, much less employment and personnel documents. These words were fashionable in the 18th century. Avoid using them in the 21st.

Rule Number Six: Don’t “indicate.”

Indicate is a word that is not entirely clear and direct. “He indicated that he was angry.” Well, did he say he was angry, or did he make some gesture to “indicate” his anger? Try instead: “John said he was angry. John yelled at his supervisor to kiss his butt.” Never suggest that John indicated anything.

Rule Number Seven: Use profanity.

Well, not exactly. If an employee uses profanity in a manner that requires discipline, write down on the personnel document what he said. “Inappropriate language” does not tell the story. “He called his supervisor a gravy sucking pig” does. I have quoted the “f” word in documents filed with the courts, and I have yet to be criticized by a judge for it.

Rule Number Eight: Tell only one story.

In other words, if you need to discipline an employee for misconduct, it is not always necessary to tell the employee’s life story to justify the decision.

“John split his supervisor’s head open with a hatchet. John was also late coming to work for the third time in one month.” The second sentence is unnecessary, and it detracts from the seriousness of the first sentence.

Rule Number Nine: Proofread.

Read, read, and re-read all personnel documents. Do not rely on spell checkers or grammar programs. They will not notice that the word NOT has been omitted, or that other stray words have gotten into the document.

Compose carefully, and you will reap rewards in fewer lawsuits, fewer problems with the government, and fewer problems with lawyers.

I need to proofread this article now. I suggest you do the same with any documents you might write.

Frank Kollman is a partner in the law firm of Kollman & Saucier, PA, in Baltimore, MD. He can be reached by phone at (410) 727-4300 or fax (410) 727-4391. His firm’s web site at www.kollmanlaw.com has articles, sample policies, news and other information on employee/employer relations.