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Sixth circuit Emphasizes Importance of Keeping Comtemporaneous Disciplinary Records
In a decision issued September 19, 2007, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized the importance of employers keeping contemporaneous disciplinary records of their employees. In Abdulnour v. Campbell Soup Supply Co., the plaintiff, an area supervisor on Campbell's can filling line and an Iraqi citizen, claimed that Campbell fired him based on his national origin. The record before the court showed that upper management was aware of repeated complaints from plaintiff's immediate supervisors regarding his unsatisfactory job performance, that plaintiff was observed on several occasions failing to address problems on the canning line, and that hourly employees complained that the plaintiff was demeaning to them, failed to be on the floor at critical times, refused to communicate with them, and was "the worst supervisor ever."
These complaints, however, were not documented in the plaintiff's file. At the plaintiff's termination, the employer informed him that his employment was not working out due to a conflict in "management style or personality" and that "maybe it was the people of Northwest Ohio [who] have a problem with you."
In evaluating whether the plaintiff had shown that the employer's stated reason was a mere pretext for the termination under the familiar McDonnell-Douglas test for discrimination, the court found that the record reflected "a myriad of problems with Plaintiff's job performance and treatment of his subordinates" that justified his termination. But because the employer did not have contemporary records of this poor performance or initially proffer poor performance as a reason for the termination, the court noted, "While the law does not specifically require an employer to list every reason or incident that motivates its decision to terminate an employee, we are skeptical of undocumented accounts of employee conduct that may have been created post-termination."
Although the employer's termination decision was ultimately vindicated based on ample evidence of the plaintiff's inadequate performance, this case is an important reminder to all employers of the necessity of maintaining contemporaneous disciplinary records. |
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