A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is intended to sound like a positive, constructive way to correct employee performance. But if you are on the receiving end of a PIP, you may need to look out. It may be the first step in the termination process.

Here, we explain what a Performance Improvement Plan is, how employers use them to limit the risk of legal claims for discrimination and wrongful termination, and what you can do if you are placed on a Performance Improvement Plan.

What Is a Performance Improvement Plan?

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a formal document or process employers use to document issues that they claim are employee performance issues or behaviors that they assert do not meet expected performance standards. A PIP may address specific areas where the employer claims that the employee needs to improve, identify goals the employee needs to achieve, establish a timeframe for improvement that the employer has set, and identify consequences if the employer determines that the employee fails to meet the expectations outlined in the plan.

The PIP typically involves a meeting between the employee and their supervisor to discuss the items in the plan. The PIP may include periodic check-ins to monitor progress. In reality, very few PIPs are actually intended to improve employee performance. Instead, they are the start of a paper trail that leads to termination.

Why Do Employers Use Performance Improvement Plans?

Employers often use Performance Improvement Plans to document an employee’s performance in an effort to protect themselves from potential liability in a legal claim for discrimination or wrongful termination.

Employers often use them to document alleged poor performance and support disciplinary actions or even termination. By identifying alleged performance issues, the employer may later rely on the PIP to justify termination of employment.

How to Respond to a Performance Improvement Plan

Regardless of whether you think the PIP is a legitimate effort to improve performance or the first step toward termination, you should take the matter seriously and respond professionally.

1. Read the Performance Improvement Plan carefully to ensure you fully understand the expectations. Ask for clarification if there are items you do not understand.
2. Determine whether the performance goals are reasonably achievable in the timeframe provided.
3. Examine how the performance improvement plan will be assessed. Are the goals objective or subjective? Can satisfaction of the performance criteria be determined based on easily verifiable facts, or is everything up to the discretionary opinion of management?
4. Decide whether to respond. If the requirements are unfair or unrealistic, and the goals are unclear and lack objective goals with measurable criteria, you should document your concerns in writing.
5. Consult with an employment attorney to ensure that your legal rights are protected, and to help assess whether there is a claim that the PIP constitutes an act of illegal discrimination or retaliation.

Placed on a Performance Improvement Plan? Our Employment Attorneys Can Help

Being placed on a Performance Improvement Plan may come as a surprise, bringing frustration, disappointment, and concern about your future. Some PIPs are used to create a paper trail to justify termination, particularly when an employer has already decided on termination and needs documentation to support that decision.

The employment attorneys at Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau, LLC, can help to protect your legal rights, and to provide assistance in cases where there is evidence that a PIP is being used to carry out discrimination or retaliation. We will look closely at your circumstances, including the timing of the PIP, whether the performance concerns are consistent with prior performance reviews, and whether the benchmarks identified in the PIP are reasonably achievable, and whether the PIP includes objective and clearly measurable criteria.

We can also assess whether the PIP came in response to protected activity, such as filing a complaint for workplace discrimination or harassment, taking protected leave, or reporting illegal behavior. If the PIP came closely after one of these actions, it may be retaliatory and you may benefit from having an attorney review the PIP before you respond. Finally, we can help you prepare a constructive response that protects your rights, and assert legal claims as needed. Since many PIPs lead to separation of employment, in certain circumstances, we can also help employees negotiate a severance package.

Contact an Employment Attorney at Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau Today

With offices in Hartford and New London, Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau represents clients in employment matters throughout Connecticut. Contact us online or call 860-246-2466 to schedule a confidential consultation to discuss how we can assist you.