Gross Misconduct

Gross misconduct is defined as conduct, acts, or behavior from an employee that is severe enough to warrant immediate termination. Even if it is a first offense, gross misconduct can lead to immediate removal from one's employment and damage one's relationship with their employer. 

Gross misconduct has the potential to harm an organization's reputation, harm the relationship between the employer and the employee, or both. Some examples of gross misconduct includes:

• Theft 
• Fraud
• Bodily harm 
• Destruction of company property 
• Bullying
• Violations of health and safety laws 
• Impairment at work due to drugs or alcohol 
• Flagrant insubordination

The employee handbook or disciplinary policy should contain clear guidelines on what constitutes gross misbehavior as established by the organization.

Misconduct vs Gross Misconduct

While generally gross misconduct refers to offenses that can lead to termination of an employee from his contract, misconduct includes minor offenses that can be dealt in other ways such as suspensions, fines, warnings etc. Employees will face disciplinary action for misconduct but they are very likely to remain contracted to the organization after the first warning. Examples of misconduct include:

• Being late
• Mis-use of company equipment or property
• Aggressive behavior

A functional HRIS can help you successfully track all types of misconducts with the appropriate disciplinary tracking tools and make sure the necessary actions are taken in regards to them. It also allows to keep track of past misconducts so as to take necessary actions against employees that conduct continuous breaches of code.