Employee Warning Letter

An Employee Warning Letter is used when an employer needs to reprimand or warn an employee for something they did. Often, Employee Warning Letters are sent after an employer (or someone within the employer's company in a position of authority, such as an HR Manager or Supervisor) has noticed that an employee has been engaged in a pattern of behavior which is not acceptable or not permitted. Employee Warning Letters are used across multiple businesses, but especially for professional positions.

It's common in situations which require an Employee Warning Letter to speak to the employee about the behavior in person, either immediately before or immediately after sending the letter, but it is not required. An Employee Warning Letter should be used in the situation that an official record needs to be created of the employee's bad behavior. If the employee continues with their noncompliance, an Employee Warning Letter may be the first step in an eventual termination of their employment, and it would be best to have a clear record in this situation.

An Employer Warning Letter contains significant details about the behavior so that both employee and employer can be on the same page about what has gone wrong and how to correct it.

How to use this document

This document can be used when an employer, HR Manager, or other Supervisor needs a template for a warning letter to send to an employee. In this document, questions will be asked to establish what kind of behavior or infraction is taking place. Choices will be given for attendance issues, general poor performance, or violations of company rules or policies. There is also a space to draft new information about the employee infraction if none of the choices are relevant.

This document is highly detailed and also includes information about what type of each infraction the employer may be dealing with. There is a space to discuss consequences as well as next steps for the employer and employee.

The letter includes identifying information for each party, details of the infraction, consequences for the infraction, and has space for the employee to sign in acknowledgment that the letter was received.

Applicable law

There are no laws outlining what must be put into an Employee Warning Letter. There are, however, some overall accepted practices for creating such documents, including making sure the information is robust enough so that the employee knows what they did wrong and how to correct it.

How to modify the template

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.