PIPs: A Way Forward Or A Way Out?

Performance Improvement Plans (or PIPs) often spark intense debate. Are they tools to help struggling employees succeed or thinly veiled strategies to protect employers in court? The answer depends on who you ask – and how the PIP is handled.

To unpack this issue, we asked Mari Bonthuis and Richard Reice, both partners at Sterlington to share their insights. Their conversation explores whether PIPs are a fair shot at redemption or a thinly veiled disguise.

Richard: As a labor and employment law partner and former CHRO, I can attest that PIPs are often used and abused. Their genesis can be traced to progressive discipline provisions in union labor agreements that require just cause for dismissal and mandate progressive discipline: verbal warning, then a written warning, then suspension, and if no improvement, discharge. PIPs were designed with the best of intentions to provide notice and opportunity for improvement to marginally performing, non-union, employees.