Prepare for the Meeting:

• Review the pre-disciplinary (Skelly) letter.
• Have the personnel record and other information on hand at the time of the interview; prepare an outline as needed.
• Make sure that the employee's representative will be in attendance at the meeting, or that the employee has explicitly refused representation.
• Consider whether Employee Relations staff should attend.

Conducting the Meeting:

• Start the meeting by stating that it is an informal meeting to hear the employee's response to the charges and facts described in the pre-disciplinary letter.
• Make sure that all the parties present in the meeting are introduced to each other.
• Review the contents of the pre-disciplinary (Skelly) letter and the documentation attached to the letter to make sure the employee has received and reviewed all the charges, facts and documentation.
• Proceed with the meeting by asking the employee to respond to the charges in the pre-disciplinary (Skelly) letter.
• Ask open-ended follow-up questions to clarify employee statements or to gain more information.
• Take notes of the employee's response to the charges.
• Allow for discussion if specific facts are in dispute or details need to be clarified. Keep in mind, however, that the primary purpose of the meeting is to allow the employee to respond to the charges.
• Conclude the meeting by informing the employee of the date by which you will provide your decision in writing.
• Give the employee any instructions as to their employment status and work schedule during the time between the Skelly meeting and the communication of your decision about the proposed discipline.

After the Meeting:

• Check out information provided by the employee that may impact the factual basis for your recommendation.
• Consider mitigating factors the employee brought up that you had not previously considered.
• Decide whether the information provided by the employee is sufficient to alter the original recommendation (may be done in consultation with Employee Relations).