Does a specific code of conduct lower the bar for dismissal if code is violated?
Question: If an employer has a specific code of conduct that prohibits certain behaviour, is there a lower bar for dismissal rather than other forms of discipline for violations of the code?
Answer: The bar may seem lower in a sense, but if the employer is being precise in its communications to its employees, it would not characterize the situation in those terms. A better way to put it is that while the bar for dismissal remains at the same level, the employees have been put on notice that the specific behaviour shall be viewed as serious enough to reach that bar. This is a subtle distinction, yet in employment law terms, it is an important one.
The bar for summary dismissal is a high one for employers to meet and little can be done to lower it. However, an employer has the ability to create reasonable rules to regulate its workplace and the right to expect that its employees obey reasonable orders in matters of substance. For example, rules requiring safe operations or refraining from conflicts of interest are regarded as being fundamentally important to employers. In many cases, violation of such rules can be considered serious enough to constitute a repudiation of the employment contract.
Where a company code of conduct is clearly written and communicated to employees, its breach will strengthen the employer's case that the bar for dismissal has been met. However, no matter how effectively the rules are written and communicated, the code will not, by the very fact of its existence, elevate a parking violation into a capital case. Trivial misconduct and isolated transgressions of a less serious nature will not justify dismissal without aggravating circumstances like extensive prior discipline.
Codes of conduct can be effective tools for establishing that certain behaviour is incompatible to continued employment, subject to the reasonableness of the prohibitions and of the consequences ascribed to them.
