Answer:
An employee who is performing below the minimum standard and getting away with it is, in fact, lowering the standard for everyone. After all, if he can get away with lousy performance, doesn’t it mean everyone else can, too?

I’m on your side. If your manager ties your hands and prevents you from holding this employee responsible, he is taking away your authority to do your job. I suspect your manager is uninformed about what constitutes appropriate progressive discipline.

It’s called “progressive” because it evolves over a period of time, with no surprises for the employee and clear expectations and consequences. When done correctly, an employee can either take steps to turn around the situation or “fire himself.” In other words, he knows what the consequences will be if he doesn’t change his behavior but he continues down the path to termination anyway.

Experience shows us that surprised people sue. This process eliminates the surprise and gives the employee clear choices about the outcome. He or she may sue anyway but chances are you’d win the case, if you have been clear, consistent and reasonable about expectations and what the consequences could be if he or she fails to meet minimum expectations.

Here are some general guidelines to follow:

• Meet with your manager and show him this process. Ask for his support as you move through the steps. If it would make him feel more comfortable, speak to a lawyer who specializes in labor and human resources issues before you begin.
  
  
• First meeting: Have a discussion with the employee to spell out exactly what is expected and give him examples of the pattern of behavior that is unacceptable. “Jack, over the last few months you’ve missed a number of deadlines. Your weekly reports are consistently late, three of your main projects have missed major targets and you haven’t begun the new assignment that is due next week. This pattern isn’t acceptable and we need to talk about what you are going to do to turn this around.”
  
  During this conversation, it’s important to do three things:
  -Keep the focus on his responsibilities. Don’t accept excuses or blame. “Let’s stay focused on you. What are you going to do differently that is going to ensure that you meet your deadlines?”
  -Determine if there is some legitimate barrier preventing him from meeting the expectation.
  -Give him fair warning. This isn’t going to be documented but if you need to talk to him again, you will be forced to document the incident and put it in his personnel file.
  
  
• Second – Third – Fourth Meeting: Observe his behavior, being quick to notice if he is making improvements but talk to him again if he fails to meet expectations. At this point, you will probably ask him to meet with you weekly and report on his progress. Restate the expectations, ask him for actions he’s going to take, or impose some actions if necessary.
  -Summarize your conversation, including action items he’s agreed to do, in an email and give him a copy. Put a copy in his file.
  -Spell out the potential consequences. “I feel that it’s only fair to tell you what could happen if you don’t turn this around. It has already had an impact on your results, which will affect your salary review. If it continues, it could cause you to lose your job. I hope you will take the necessary steps to prevent this.”
  
  
• Final Meeting: He hasn’t improved consistently enough and you are going to give him one final warning. He is one step away from termination and he needs to know it.
  -Give him specific, measurable actions you want from him, within a clear time frame. “Over the next six months, you need to hand in your weekly report by 3 pm on Friday. You also need to meet every deadline, unless we’ve agreed otherwise. Failure to do this could result in losing your job. It is unfortunate that it’s come to this but you’ve left me no other options.” (Notice the words “could result.” This gives you some wiggle room in case there actually is a legitimate reason. But at this point, it would need to be something out of the person’s control.)

Taking disciplinary action is never easy. But done correctly, it will put the employee’s fate in his own hands.