HR Allies

05/25/2026

There’s a misconception I see all the time that progressive discipline is about giving employees multiple chances or being overly patient. That’s not really what it’s for.

What it's for is to communicate expectations and consequences clearly to an employee - and to protect the business from being sued for wrongful termination if they ultimately decide to part ways.

At its core, progressive discipline is about creating a clear, consistent record of what’s happening and how it’s being addressed. It forces clarity around expectations, communication, and follow-through.

When it’s done well, it answers the questions that matter later. Did the employee understand the issue? Were expectations communicated clearly? Was there a reasonable opportunity to improve?

If those answers aren’t obvious from the documentation, the situation becomes harder to defend, even if the underlying issue felt clear at the time.

05/19/2026

I was speaking with a physician ownership group recently about how they were paying their clinical team, and the conversation started with, “This is how we’ve always done it.”

In this case, it involved a mix of hourly dental assistants, hygienists with production-based incentives, and a practice manager who was promoted to management but still paid like an expensive non-exempt hourly employee earning lots of overtime.

Nothing had been questioned for years because payroll was running and no one had raised concerns. But once we started looking more closely, there were gaps between how people were classified and how they were actually working day to day.

These are the kinds of issues that don’t feel urgent until they suddenly are. Pay practices tend to sit in the background until a complaint, an audit, or a single question brings everything into focus.

By the time you’re taking a closer look, you’re usually not evaluating risk—you’re already managing it.

05/11/2026

A practice administrator asked me recently whether an employee could secretly record a conversation with a physician. The situation involved a medical assistant who had raised concerns about how feedback was being delivered and whether conversations were being handled consistently.

The legal answer depends on the state - in Virginia, it's perfectly legal to record your boss without their knowledge - but that’s not the most important part of the discussion. Once you assume that something could be recorded, the focus shifts to how that conversation would sound if someone else heard it later.

Would it come across as measured and consistent with prior decisions, or would it sound like a reaction in the moment that wasn’t fully thought through? In fast-paced clinical environments, it’s easy for conversations to become more direct or informal than intended.

Technology hasn’t created a new category of HR risk here. It has simply made it easier for everyday workplace interactions to be replayed and examined in a different light.

05/04/2026

A practice director told me recently, “I think we just need to let her go… it’s not working.” It was a front desk coordinator who had been with the practice for about eight months, and the physician ownership group was aligned that something felt off.

When I asked what specifically wasn’t working, the answer got vague pretty quickly. There were some frustrations about communication, a few comments about attitude, a sense that her co-workers didn't like her ... but no consistent documentation and no clear pattern of prior conversations captured anywhere.

That’s where these situations become harder than they need to be. “Bad fit” makes sense internally, especially in a busy practice where everyone feels the impact of one person not pulling their weight, but it doesn’t translate well when someone else is trying to understand the decision later.

HR risk doesn’t usually come from deciding to move on. It shows up when the reasoning behind that decision isn’t clearly supported in a way that holds up under scrutiny.

05/04/2026

One of the most common patterns I see in multi-location practices is inconsistency that builds gradually over time. A physician ownership group might assume all offices are operating the same way, but the reality looks very different on the ground.

An office manager in one location handles attendance issues one way, while another location takes a more relaxed approach. A front desk coordinator in one office is held to a strict standard for scheduling and patient communication, while in another office those expectations are more flexible.

None of this happens intentionally. It’s usually the result of strong managers making practical decisions in the moment to keep their individual office running smoothly.

The challenge is that, over time, those decisions create completely different employee experiences across locations. When a disciplinary issue or termination comes up, the question isn’t just whether the decision makes sense in that one office—it’s whether it aligns with how similar situations have been handled elsewhere.

That’s where things get complicated. What feels reasonable in isolation can look inconsistent when viewed across the organization.

Multi-location practices don’t run into HR risk because they have different managers. They run into risk when those differences aren’t visible until a decision is questioned.

04/10/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/VihYz9AMbfSUjd82/?mibextid=WC7FNe

On Wednesday, April 17 at 3 PM CST, join us as we discuss how your restaurant's HR is complaint! With presenter Danielle M. Verderosa, Founder and President of HR Allies, you'll learn how to prevent the steep expenses of government fines, penalties, and legal actions by recognizing and correcting the compliance pitfalls. Register now at restaurantowner.com/public/Navigating-HR-Compliance.cfm.

12/16/2021

Just one manager + six months of unchecked = $690 million settlement for one Carrabba's Italian Grill location. Let me show you how to easily avoid a similar fate

What is it about the restaurant industry that makes it so susceptible to sexual harassment? The EEOC announced this week that an owner of a Brandon, FL Carrabba's Italian Grill will pay $690,000 to settle female employees' claims of sexual harassment by a company Managing Partner. Though the executi

12/07/2021

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-3-reasons-update-your-employee-handbook-right-sphr-shrm-scp

When I was newly hired as a Human Resources Director, I spent my first day reviewing the company’s policies, new hire paperwork, and performance management documents. Their Employee Handbook was a mess.

09/27/2021

and , withholding pay from an employee is a sure-fire way to turn them from "disgruntled" to "litigious." There are so many other ways to appropriately and legally discipline employees -- don't poke the bear by messing with their pay.

The appellate court reversed a portion of a lower court’s ruling that Rowan University did not retaliate against a professor for taking leave.

06/11/2021

Whether you're in-between HR experts or you never had one on your staff in the first place, here are the two costly human resources functions you can't ignore.

Ask any experienced Human Resource professional, and they’ll tell you that there are many different parts of their job that are important to the well-being of a company and its employees. The truth, however, is that many of those functions can take a back seat when you’ve got a vacancy in your H...