I am writing this on behalf of my wife who is currently involved in a difficult situation at her workplace. She has worked for 25 years at the same Hospital as a nurse.

She was recently written up by her supervisor, who cited a previous write up she was given about 14 years prior. As part of this write up, her supervisor mantions a "verbal warning" that she was supposedly given several months ago.

This "verbal warning" as cited by her supervisor was nothing more than something mentioned in the employee break room over a cup of cofee. At no time was my wife informed that this social chat was deemed a verbal warning.

This writeup also mentions her previous writup of 14 years ago.

My question is what constitutes a "verbal warning", and can an employer use a previous writeup as part of a new writeup, and is there a "statute of limitations" of sorts on previous writeups? In other words how long can an employer keep and use such records against an employee?

If anyone has any knowledge in this area I would appreciate your expertise.

Thankyou.

Employee discipline is not a matter regulated by law. Has you wife spoken with HR, however? Unless the "verbal warning" is recognized as such by the employee, it doesn't do much good. And using a write-up from 14 years ago to justify a second write-up is just plain stupid.

Thankyou Pattymd

She is going to talk to HR today, and I agree ...using a writeup from 14 years ago is somewhat questionable.