An Employment Litigator's Tips for Preparing Effective Performance Evaluations
As Henry J. Kaiser once said, “Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.” So it is with annual performance evaluations -- supervisors should see them as an opportunity to improve employee performance, or, if that does not work, as a valuable tool in defending against employment litigation claims. Instead, most supervisors dread them and, as a result, put them off as long as possible. Lawyers for ex-employees love them because, as a general rule, the evaluations: (i) are not brutally honest about poor performance because the supervisor is still “working” with the employee; (ii) conflict with later positions taken by the employer in litigation; and (iii) lack specific examples and often closely resemble the evaluation of employees given dissimilar raises or who are still employed. In my litigation travels, I have been both greatly helped and hurt by evaluations. I have also learned many lessons, some the hard way. Here are a few performance evaluation do’s and don’ts for supervisors:
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