Human Resource Blog

Non-Salaried Employee Suspension

I am an employee in the state of California. I would first like to note that I am a manager paid hourly and not by a salary, because I am not sure if the state laws differ on those grounds.
I was suspended for one week without pay because a co-worker(s) (I’m not actually sure if it was just one person or more than one) complained about my attitude and said I have a “negative energy” (I work in a holistic health care environment where energy work is performed).
Anyways, I want to know if I was wrongfully suspended. I thought you had to be under investigation for a suspension to take place?
Any feedback will help. Thank you!

This employer’s action was legal, although it’s not considered good management. Many employers suspend workers while an investigation is going on. However, suspension is also used as a disciplinary tool. It’s considered more severe than a written reprimand, and less severe than termination. Normally, a 3 to 10 day suspension would be the next-to-last step in the disciplinary process, if it is used. Further violations would result in the employee being terminated. (Ideally, the employee would have been warned, verbally and in writing, several times before being suspended.)

The best practice in the HR world is to only discipline employees for objective, verifiable actions. For example, coming to work late, being absent too many times or gossiping would be objective actions by the employee. “Negative energy” is subjective, not objective. Which means that this is poor management. You might be better off looking for another job during your week off, rather than working for this company.