Personality Conflicts

[winky2008]

I am the manager for a healthcare provider's office. There are 9 females in a small environment which brings to our practice many different personalities.
One employee is very headstrong and has a forceful personality which clashes with others. It has been an ongoing problem since her hire 2 years ago. I was hired 9 months ago and have made many positive changes in staffing and office procedures. This particular employee chooses not to be a team player. By that, she chooses not to help the staff file charts, answer phones, help at the front desk as needed etc. This has created negativity among staff members over the months. I have held staff meetings and have reiterated the need for all employees to help each other. I have spoken indivually to this employee and she always defends herself and sees that she is doing no wrong. The boss (male physician)has spoken to her and now there are definitely attitude problems. The other staff members dislike her as she has created a negative environment all around her. There have been small verbal remarks said between the staff. No threats, no bodily harm nothing like that. Just women and comments said alouod so this employee can hear them.

Now thie employee has asked me for an incident report as she is claiming harassment. I view this as personlaity conflicts and have suggested to her to try to be a team player. I cannot force employees to like each other. I was hopiing she would try to make mends but she is stubborn and fixates on harassment.

I have found out recently that she seeks legal action wherever she can. She has sued her car dealership numerous times etc.

I don't want her to quit, as she does her individual job well. She just needs to help the others when she can and become part of the team. If she is fired, I know she will go after our practice and claim harassment. I am hoping she comes around and if disgruntled she leaves.

If I need to go to unemployment due to this situation, would I be able to claim misconduct? I have all documenetation of meetings etc. and converations in addition to other employees incident reports.

 

[cbg]

You don't post your state, which would help in the assessment. However, no matter what state you're in, unemployment in a situation like this is a toss-up and could go either way.

But personally, if I had an employee who behaved as you described, and had been warned over and over with no results, I'd fire her whether she got unemployment or not. By leaving her in place, what you're teaching her is that there are no consequences for doing whatever she likes.

Don't let the tail wag the dog. If all it takes to be able to stay in her job doing whatever she wants and nothing she doesn't want, is to threaten a harassment claim, she's got no incentive to change her behavior. And it's not fair to the other employees.

 

[winky2008]

Harassment

I am from PA. Thanks for the feedback. I and another employee are meeting with a current staff member who had the job position of this particular employee causing the problems so we can cross-train in case of early termination. I want to have my bases covered.

 

[cbg]

This is only a guess. Like I said, unemployment in any state for this kind of situation is a toss up. But based on my experience in PA, and I do have some, my guess is that she will initially be approved. You might succeed on appeal.

This is only a guess and I would not place money on it either way. However, my comments stand. In this case, assuming you've told us the complete story, I'd rather have such a negative element gone even if I did land on the hook for UI.