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We suspended an employee without pay for violating our attendance policy. Is that OK?

We’ve said it many times, but it bears repeating: The best way to prevent lawsuits is to carefully document every employment decision. HR professionals and supervisors should be able to show exactly when a decision was made, who made it and what the basis for the decision was.

The five elements every disciplinary document should include.

You have workplace rules for a reason, and you can require employees to follow them. If someone breaks your rules or violates your policies, feel free to discipline them. As long as you enforce your rules evenhandedly and impose discipline consistently, courts are unlikely to second-guess your decision to punish employees.

From jokes to ridicule or innuendo, comments made at the expense of a person’s individuality are inappropriate in the workplace. You can’t respond to such behavior with a weak chuckle or by pretending you didn’t hear. You need to respond forcefully.

When employees take FMLA leave, sometimes their employers just let the work pile up, to be completed when the employee returns. That can be dangerous if the employee can’t catch up and is punished.

It’s important to think about legal issues when disciplining. But real-life discipline has a much simpler imperative: Make sure employees don’t repeat their mistakes.

If you’re faced with a staff member who isn’t a good fit, is termination the answer, or would it be better to demote the employee? The answer is, of course, it depends. Always weigh demotions case by case.

An employee’s refusal to perform an assigned task often frustrates or flusters a manager. The next time such a situation occurs, seize control by doing the following.

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