What is it?

A letter notifying the employee that disciplinary action is being taken. The letter states the level and effective date of the discipline being taken. The letter also repeats the charges and facts laid out in the Intent Letter, with any revisions in charges/facts resulting from the oral/written reply.

Who does it?

The decision letter is signed and issued by a level of management above the manager who signed the intent letter.

How?

The decision letter should be hand-delivered to the employee. The manager should annotate a copy of the letter indicating the date and time the letter was given to the employee. If the employee is absent without leave or otherwise not available to receive the letter personally, it should be mailed to his/her home address by both regular and certified mail. It is essential that there be a clear record of the date the decision letter was issued in order to determine if a subsequent appeal or grievance is timely.

The decision may be to sustain, overturn, or mitigate (reduce to a lower form of discipline) the proposed action based on the oral/written reply, or based on the deciding official’s considerations. The deciding official can lessen or overturn the proposed discipline, but he/she cannot impose a higher level of discipline.

Copies of the Decision Letter should be sent to the Department Head, the Human Resources Director, Employee & Labor Relations, the Civil Service Personnel File, and the Departmental Personnel File.

In addition, if an employee is represented by either AFSCME or SEIU at the pre-disciplinary meeting (Skelly Hearing), a copy of the Decision Letter shall be mailed to the union office.