It’s sometimes the case that an employee’s erratic behavior violates
multiple company performance standards simultaneously. For example,
the individual may already be on written warning for exProgressive
cessive absenteeism and then engage in inappropriate workplace
conduct. Does the new conduct infraction warrant placing him on
final written warning overall, or should you issue a separate warning
for his conduct?

It depends. Some of the factors you’ll need to look at include your company’s past practices in handling similar incidents, the severity
of the conduct infraction, and the number of incidents of unauthorized absence. Of course, the state in which your company is
located will also help you determine how bold you may be in terms of taking adverse action against an employee.

Two schools of thought exist: Conservative employers and defense
attorneys usually recommend treating these unrelated infractions
separately. In essence, the employee would remain on written warning for absenteeism and then be given a separate written warning for inappropriate workplace conduct. On the other hand, more aggressive employers believe it is appropriate to view employee behavior in terms of responsibility rather than as isolated behavioral
acts. As such, they believe that lumping all these issues together
allows them the discretion to issue a final written warning for overall
substandard job performance.

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‘‘Bundling offenses’’ is the term often used for this latter school of
thought. Bundling allows violations that are fundamentally unrelated
to be lumped together for purposes of documenting poor performance. This accumulation factor often plays an important role in justifying terminations because arbitrators generally uphold more
aggressive disciplinary measures when numerous performance problems—even if unrelated—have accumulated over short periods
of time. There is a sample written warning for this example in Appendix L.

Taken From : The Hiring and Firing Quention and Answer Book