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Ontario Public Service

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  2. Collective Agreement & Fact Sheets
  3. Employee Discipline
Ontario Public Service

Employee Discipline

Table of contents

Table of contents

  • If you are being disciplined
  • How to ask for help from a Workplace Representative
  • If your supervisor or another Employer representative requests a meeting
  • The discipline process
  • 1. Investigation and fact-finding
  • 2. Imposing discipline
  • Forms of progressive discipline
  • Letter of counsel
  • Verbal reprimand (a verbal warning)
  • Letter of reprimand (a written warning)
  • Unpaid suspension
  • Termination
  • Disciplinary records and your personnel file
  • If you have been disciplined unfairly
  • If you have questions or need assistance

When disciplining employees, the Employer must follow the rules of just cause, and “progressive discipline.”

This means that the Employer must:

  • first, determine that you have done something that warrants discipline (just cause),
  • then, attempt to have you correct the behaviour through lesser forms of discipline before progressing to more severe forms of discipline.

In cases of serious misconduct in the workplace, such as violent assault or theft, the Employer may have the right to terminate your employment without progressive discipline.

Fact Sheet

Bargaining Unit: Ontario Public Service (OPS)

Collective Agreement Articles: 7, 15, & 20
First Published: July 13, 2020
Last Updated: December 7, 2020

Jump Menu Anchor: If you are being disciplined

If you are being disciplined

If you experience an incident that you think may be disciplinary in nature, if your Employer informs you that they are investigating allegations of misconduct against you, or if you are being formally disciplined, we recommend you:

  • take careful notes of the incident and the Employer’s actions; and
  • seek the assistance of a trained AMAPCEO Workplace Representative in your District right away.
Jump Menu Anchor: How to ask for help from a Workplace Representative

How to ask for help from a Workplace Representative

Search for a Workplace Representative, and get in touch by email to see if they can help you with your matter. They do not have to be in your Ministry.

Workplace Representatives are trained union members who have volunteered to confidentially assist members like you in the workplace. They should be your first point of contact in seeking information and representation with an issue at work. Access to this assistance is important advantage of being a unionized professional.

Jump Menu Anchor: If your supervisor or another Employer representative requests a meeting

If your supervisor or another Employer representative requests a meeting

When your supervisor or another Employer representative notifies you of the need for a meeting related to discipline, they must:

  • suggest a time and a place for the meeting, which must be mutually agreeable to both you and the Employer;

  • remind you of your right to have a Workplace Representative accompany you—the decision on whether to do this is yours to make; and

  • give you up to three working days to find a Workplace Representative to help you (please see a template email you can send to your Employer).

You may have to contact several Workplace Representatives before you find one available to attend the meeting with you. If you are having difficulty finding a Workplace Representative:

  • please contact the AMAPCEO office for urgent assistance; and
  • address this with your supervisor or the Employer representative to try to work out a later time when you will have union representation.

Your supervisor or the Employer representative may insist the matter is urgent and the meeting must occur as soon as possible. In this case, you may have to contact several Workplace Representatives to find one available on short notice. If you’re having trouble connecting with one, and are in urgent need of assistance, please contact the AMAPCEO office. You should also address this with your supervisor or the Employer representative to try to work out a later time when you will have union representation.

If you attend a meeting without a Workplace Representative, and the Employer asks you to sign a waiver of your right to representation, only sign it if you voluntarily attended without a Workplace Representative.

Jump Menu Anchor: The discipline process

The discipline process

If there are allegations of misconduct against you, the Employer will typically follow this process:

Jump Menu Anchor: 1. Investigation and fact-finding

1. Investigation and fact-finding

Your Employer will usually investigate allegations of misconduct and may invite you to a meeting regarding your alleged misconduct. If the allegations are serious, there may be more than one investigation or fact-finding meeting. You have the right to have an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative accompany you to any investigation or fact-finding meeting. See the right to representation fact sheet for more information.

In most cases, you will have the opportunity to present any mitigating factors that you want the Employer to consider when assessing the discipline to be imposed. A Workplace Representative can help you with this. These could include:

  • a lack of any prior discipline;
  • satisfactory work performance;
  • length of service;
  • if the misconduct was impulsive, and not premeditated;
  • demonstration of remorse for the misconduct;
  • if the harm done was not serious;
  • an illness, including addiction or mental health, that may have a link to the misconduct; and
  • the likelihood of the misconduct reoccurring or your prospect of rehabilitation.

If the allegations are serious, the Employer may suspend you with pay, pending the results of their investigation under the Public Services of Ontario Act.

Jump Menu Anchor: 2. Imposing discipline

2. Imposing discipline

If the Employer determines there is just cause, they will inform you of how they are disciplining you. Forms of progressive discipline are listed below.

Jump Menu Anchor: Forms of progressive discipline

Forms of progressive discipline

Jump Menu Anchor: Letter of counsel

Letter of counsel

The Employer may write a letter detailing your misconduct and your supervisor’s expectations for corrective action. This will not be placed in your personnel file. A letter of counsel is more of an informal warning and is not considered disciplinary.

Jump Menu Anchor: Verbal reprimand (a verbal warning)

Verbal reprimand (a verbal warning)

Your supervisor or another Employer representative will meet with you and verbally state their expectations for corrective action going forward. They will warn you that any further misconduct could result in more severe forms of discipline. This is normally the first level of discipline imposed for minor workplace conduct.

Jump Menu Anchor: Letter of reprimand (a written warning)

Letter of reprimand (a written warning)

In a letter of reprimand, your supervisor or another Employer representative will detail the nature of the misconduct, and their expectations for corrective action going forward. You will receive a copy, and a copy will be placed in your personnel file. The Employer may rely on it later to justify more severe penalties if further misconduct occurs.

Jump Menu Anchor: Unpaid suspension

Unpaid suspension

The Employer may impose an unpaid suspension that could range from one day to 20 days. Your supervisor or another Employer representative will also give you a formal letter of reprimand indicating that you have been suspended without pay and outlining your supervisor’s expectations for corrective action going forward. A copy of this letter will be placed in your personnel file and the Employer may rely on it later to justify more severe penalties if further misconduct occurs.

Jump Menu Anchor: Termination

Termination

This final step in discipline will only be imposed if the conduct is so serious that the Employer feels it necessary to sever your employment, or when prior attempts at corrective measures or progressive discipline have proven unsuccessful and you have shown no potential for rehabilitation.

Jump Menu Anchor: Disciplinary records and your personnel file

Disciplinary records and your personnel file

We recommend you take careful notes of any incident which you may think is disciplinary in nature, regardless if your Employer formally disciplines you or not. If you are unsure, please contact a Workplace Representative.

If you are disciplined, your Employer will place a record of its disciplinary action in your personnel file. You have the right to include your own explanation as an attachment to this record.

All disciplinary records must be removed from your personnel file after three years if your record has remained clear of similar offences.

Jump Menu Anchor: If you have been disciplined unfairly

If you have been disciplined unfairly

If you believe you have been disciplined without just cause or in a manner inconsistent with progressive discipline, you can work with a Workplace Representative to request that AMAPCEO review the file and consider filing a formal dispute on your behalf. This must be done within 30 working days of your becoming aware of the issue.

Jump Menu Anchor: If you have questions or need assistance

If you have questions or need assistance

Please contact an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative near you. They do not have to be in your Ministry.

Workplace Representatives are trained union members who have volunteered to confidentially assist members like you in the workplace. They should be your first point of contact in seeking information and representation with an issue at work.

Your Workplace Representative may ask you to use the union’s secure web-based system, RADAR, to provide details about your situation. RADAR will help you and your Workplace Representative keep track of things without the privacy concerns that could come from using the Employer’s email system.

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We would like to acknowledge Tkaronto, a Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.”

The AMAPCEO office is on the traditional unceded territory of Haudenosaunee speaking nations, including the Wendat, Seneca and Mohawk. These nations have been here since time immemorial and were in more recent times joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.

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