What a Warning Letter Should Contain
No Act sets a fixed warning-letter format. It should describe the incident, give the employee a chance to reply, and be kept on a dated record.
On this page
- No Act names "warning letter" directly
- Describe the incident, not the person
- Give the employee a chance to reply first
- Proving it was delivered
- Warnings and a Labour Tribunal case
- Keeping the record
- Frequently asked questions
- Does an employee have to sign a warning letter for it to count?
- Is a verbal warning legally valid?
- Can I backdate a warning letter?
- How many warnings must I give before a dismissal is fair?
- Does a warning letter guarantee I can dismiss the employee later?
No Act sets a required form for a warning letter. What is settled comes from the wider fair-procedure rule for discipline: a specific allegation, and a real chance for the employee to reply before anything is decided. Keep a dated, signed record of both. This page covers the warning itself. For the fuller process, see what steps must an employer follow before disciplining or dismissing an employee.
No Act names “warning letter” directly
No Act checked names “warning letter” or defines it. What is settled is the fair-procedure rule for discipline: a specific charge, and a chance to explain first. A warning letter is one way of recording an earlier, lighter step in that same process. See labour law in Sri Lanka, the employer’s map of every Act for where discipline sits among the other Acts.
Describe the incident, not the person
Write what happened: the date, the specific act, and the rule or instruction it broke. Avoid general character comments. This is not a statutory test. It follows from the same fair-procedure idea: the employee needs to know exactly what they are answering, not a general complaint about their attitude.
Give the employee a chance to reply first
Before you decide the warning stands, let the employee explain their side. This mirrors the “chance to explain” step used in a full disciplinary inquiry. There is no set number of days the law gives for a reply — decide a reasonable period and put it in writing.
Proving it was delivered
Get the employee to sign and date a copy. If they refuse to sign, note the refusal, the date, and who witnessed it. No Act sets this out as a legal requirement. It is common record-keeping practice.
| Question | What the law says |
|---|---|
| Must the employee sign it? | No Act says. |
| Is a verbal warning valid? | No Act says. |
| Can a warning be backdated? | No Act says. |
| How long does a warning stay live? | No Act says. |
Warnings and a Labour Tribunal case
A warning letter is part of your evidence, not a guarantee of anything. A dismissed workman (the Act’s word for an employee it covers) can still apply to a Labour Tribunal within six months of the date of termination, whatever warnings were given. See what happens at a Labour Tribunal case for how that process runs.
Keeping the record
Keep each warning letter for as long as the employment lasts, and longer if a claim could still be brought. No Act fixes a number of years for this file. See what employee records to keep and for how long, and notice periods in Sri Lanka for the related notice rules.
Do this automatically in Humanised. Contract-aware HR software keeps each signed contract as an uploaded PDF. There is a free 7-day assisted trial, set up by the Humanised team on your own data.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. For a real case, speak to a labour lawyer or the Labour Department.
Frequently asked questions
Does an employee have to sign a warning letter for it to count?
No Act answers this. Keep a dated record either way, noting a refusal to sign if it happens.
Is a verbal warning legally valid?
No Act says. A written, dated record is the safer practice.
Can I backdate a warning letter?
No Act says. Date it on the day you actually issue it.
How many warnings must I give before a dismissal is fair?
No Act sets a number. The nearest settled rule is the fair-procedure principle: a specific charge and a chance to reply, applied at whatever stage you are at.
Does a warning letter guarantee I can dismiss the employee later?
No. It is part of the record. A Labour Tribunal still decides what is just and equitable if the employee applies.
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