Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Employee Problem
I have a FT African-American emloyee, who I hired myself in Dec 2005. She is an experienced sales person, and usually very good in sales. From the start, I found that she's inconsistent with customers--she can be amazing and have customers rave about her or she can upset and even anger customers. I've had many complaints from customers against her. I've given her many chances to improve -- we've talked, and I tried explaining why she has to be great with all of our customers. We've had numerous conversations. My store manager is a witness to the fact that I've really tried to retain this employee even at the cost of bad word-of-mouth. I did it becasue I genuienly like her and because she is usually a very good salesperson. She hasn't improved at all, however. Now, I'm at a point where I've really had enough of her bad customer service conduct. I gave her a verbal warning after another incident, and told her that the next time she will get a written warning, then probabation, then termination. What I'd like to do is cut her hours by half instead of firing her, so she'd have a chance to find another job. I have another PT employee, who was hired after her, whose hours I don't want to cut. Can I legally cut her hours for bad conduct?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Employee Problem
If you do so, don't you think she'll resent you and the company and take it out on the customers? Is there some training you can send her to for her mood swings? Obviously, you have to make the choice what to do. California is an at-will state which means you can terminate anyone for any reason or no reason, except illegal reasons (like discrimination). Make sure to document everything, of course.
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