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Employers are free to manage their workforce through evaluations and, if work is found to be lacking in quantity or quality, create an improvement plan without worrying that constructive criticism will land them in court.

There’s something inherently suspicious about following up a valid charge of discrimination or harassment with an almost immediate employment action against the employee who filed the initial claim. That smacks of retaliation.

There are other times when an employee who seems to have been a stellar performer declines suddenly. That’s when employers should document the extent of the problem and take prompt action. While there may be a lawsuit, a clearly documented incident that justifies termination usually proves persuasive.

Employers can’t interfere with the right of an employee to take FMLA leave if that employee qualifies. But what if the employee has documented performance problems prior to leave? Can the employer still discipline the employee if that discipline would have been appropriate had the employee not requested leave?

When deciding whether discipline was biased, courts often seek to compare workers who have the same supervisor, not just those who have the same job. That’s because discrimination is often manifested by individual acts, not a systemic, organization-wide problem. That makes it important to track discipline by supervisor.

Documentation can protect your decisions—or undermine them. The difference comes down to a few simple habits. Here’s how to document discipline in a way that holds up.

The line between personal opinion and professional risk continues to shrink—and HR teams are often the ones left holding the rope.

Not everyone wants to spend their time deleting emails, blocking co-workers they don’t see eye to eye with or reading rants on message boards or “forward to all” emails. But employers sometimes don’t know when they can discipline over employees’ posts on and off company resources. Now, a federal appeals court has clarified some limits in a recent case.

Want to make sure discipline sticks? Then details matter. It’s far easier to defend a termination decision if you can show the court that you specifically pointed out the employee’s work problems and offered an opportunity to improve instead of simply terminating her.

Progressive discipline plans are great for correcting the behavior of employees in whom you have invested time and money and getting them back on track. But always leave yourself an “out” for those cases when retaining the worker just doesn’t make sense.