The key is they can not be used after a certain point in time.
feeder, while normally they are not factored in when it comes to progressive disipline, they do have a much longer life when it comes to the company building a case against you.
for example, when the company is trying to can you for unsafe driving, they can and will bring up your past history, and if helps their case, from your day one. that shows you have a long term problem that you refuse to deal with poperly. shows your track record at ups dealing with whatever the issue happens to be.
this in turn is geared to sway whatever panel decision into their favor on whatever they are tryiing to do.
in the case of the guy who got hit by the guy on the cycle for instance. in his case, even though the company tried to offer him a way to save face, he declined. but if the company wanted to show in his case a pattern that led to this accident, they could for instance provide a long history of moving vehicle violations, several minor fender benders every year since he started driving etc. they could go back as far as they wanted to build their case. not that they needed to in his case, but they could if the case they were working on warranted that background.
And while that information by itself is not what would lead to a bad outcome, it could be enough to take the case away from a driver.
Also, something else, when you are at a panel, if you claim you are a model employee, and have been since day one, that leaves you open to proof to the contrary. so be careful as to what can of worms you are willing to open.
addendum, the above example is just that, and example. i have no knowledge if the driver in question had any other issues ever. but for example purposes, his case was a classic.
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