This policy describes the policy for administering fair and consistent discipline for unsatisfactory conduct at MCC.

We believe it is important to make sure that all employees are treated fairly and that disciplinary actions are prompt, consistent, and impartial. The major purpose of a disciplinary action is to correct the problem, prevent it from happening again, and prepare the employee for satisfactory performance in the future.

Although your employment is based on mutual consent and both you and MCC have the right to terminate employment at will, with or without cause or advance notice, MCC may use progressive discipline at it discretion.

Disciplinary action may be any of the following four steps: 1) verbal warning, 2) written warning, 3) suspension with or without pay, or 4) termination of employment. We will look at how severe the problem is and how often it has happened when deciding which step to take. There may be circumstances when one or more steps are bypassed.

In most cases, progressive discipline means that we will normally take these steps in the following order: 1) a first offense may call for a verbal warning; 2) a next offense may be followed by a written warning; 3) another offense may lead to a suspension; and, 4) still another offense may then lead to termination of employment.

In very serious situations, some types of employee problems may justify either a suspension, or, in extreme situations, termination of employment, without going through the usual progressive discipline steps.

You should also look at the Employee Conduct and Work Rules policy in this handbook. That policy lists examples of unacceptable conduct that might result in immediate suspension or termination of employment. However, some of the examples of unsatisfactory conduct listed may result in the progressive discipline process described above instead of immediate suspension or termination.

By using progressive discipline, we hope that most employee problems can be corrected at an early stage, benefiting both the employee and MCC.