Employee Misconduct and Your Business: We Can Help!

Is there anything more frustrating for a busy business owner or business manager than dealing with cases of employee misconduct? It's such a nebulous thing to begin with; just figuring out if one is able to terminate an employee for repeated offenses can by itself be overwhelming. And then there's the risk that the terminated employee will claim unemployment, even if the fault was their own.

Recently, in Oklahoma, employers who wish to challenge a terminated employee's misconduct-related unemployment claims are able to take advantage of broader legal definitions of misconduct. Under the new definition, misconduct can include such things as chronic tardiness or unknown reasons for frequently absentee employees, consistent disregard or neglecting of the duties said employee was hired to do, willful contravention of specific tasks required by an employer, mismanagement of a certain position by either action or inaction, actions or inactions that jeopardize the health, safety, or productivity of other employee, and basic things like wrongdoing, dishonesty/lying, disobeying the law, and violating policies enacted to create a safe and orderly work environment.

If an employer is forced to terminate an employee for "misconduct," initially the burden of proof is on them, to prove that the employee was indeed engaging in the prohibited behaviors. But now, after employers provide a signed affidavit or other evidence, the burden subsequently shifts to the employee, to prove he or she was not guilty of the stated behaviors. That's good news for employers, especially when said termination involves an employee failing a drug or alcohol test, or refusing to take one.

But Kansas and Missouri have no such provision. That is why we here at Staffing Kansas City, as a full-service Kansas City employment agency, offer the community temporary and permanent employee placement. We understand how difficult it is to quickly hire someone to fill the now-empty chair in the office. If the terminated employee was shirking his or her duties for a long time, and is then absent entirely, that can send a small business into a tailspin. But we're here to help—Kansas City employers shouldn't worry about terminating poorly-performing employees, as we've got your back in this matter.

We know how frustrating it is when you hire an employee thinking he or she will be a great fit, and then they don't show up for work, or create more work for your great employees. That's why our focus as an employment staffing service is to provide business owners with "Top Performers" when they're looking for secretarial, clerical, accounting, customer service, or sales positions. We also help staff mailrooms, document centers, and call centers. We specialize in suiting the needs of small and medium-sized companies that lack Human Resource departments, enabling you the business owner to follow your instincts and focus on what really matters for your business.

This article is brought to you by Staffing Kansas City, a full-service Kansas City employment agency that provides contract-to-hire, direct hire and temporary placement services.