Show Cause Notice/Letter to Employee for Insubordination

Insubordination by an employee means not obeying the orders and directions given by the boss or superiors by that employee. In addition to disobedience, insubordination by an employee could also mean his misconduct or bad attitude or creating trouble with superiors at work.

A disappointed boss could report this matter to the HR department or the management of the company or the concerned officer in order to initiate some sort of disciplinary action against the employee as per the policy of the company.

Generally, the first step taken by the HR department or other responsible officer in this regard is to serve a show cause notice on that employee - asking him to explain the circumstances, which lead to such insubordination. This notice serves as an opportunity given to the employee to represent his side of the story too.

You can do necessary modification to the below format according to the situation.

TEMPLATE

Ref: ...................

Date: ..................

To,

(Name of the Employee)

(Designation)

(Employee Code)

Sub.: Insubordination at workplace - Violation of employee conduct policy

Dear Mr. ..............,

It has come to our attention that for the last few weeks you have been disobeying your superior - Mr. .............. during working hours and at times during personal meetings or even over calls conducted for official purposes. You have been neglecting the work you are responsible to complete within a due time as allotted by your boss. You are well aware this kind of attitude at work is against the policy of the company for employees. This works detrimental to your own interest.

While we have started our own inquiry on this matter, we would also like to give you an opportunity to explain as to why you had been engaging in such indiscipline actions and why you should not be penalized for this.

We expect a reply from you by the end of ....day of this week. Upon receipt of your reply, we would review the matter once again. If we are satisfied with your reply and commitment to not repeat the same indiscipline action in future, then we may not take any disciplinary actions against you. Otherwise, please note, a meeting will be conducted in the presence of you, your superior Mr. ................, HR Head - Mr. ............... and CEO - Mr. .................. to hear out the case and to take further decisions on disciplinary actions, if any.

You are hereby strongly advised to not repeat such insubordination in future. Occurrence of any such incidents may ultimately lead to the termination of your employment from our company.

We do hope you would abstain from such activities and focus on work completely for your own good and the growth of our company.

Sincerely,

For (Name of the Company),

   (signature)

(Name of the officer)

(Designation)