The Written Warning Companion by Glover & Co.

Before we write anything down

First — fourteen years without ever needing to write someone up says something good about how you run that restaurant. And the fact that you're agonizing over your best server instead of firing off a form tells me you're trying to be fair, not punitive. Hold onto that, because I'm about to ask you to slow down.

The one detail that changes the order of operations: you mentioned someone said Dana's mom has been in and out of the hospital.

I have to be direct with you here, kindly:

that detail means we don't draft a warning today. Absences connected to caring for a seriously ill family member can fall under protected leave — and disciplining absences that were legally protected is the classic expensive mistake for an owner who was only trying to be fair. It's the write-up that looks reasonable the night you write it and terrible in a hearing room two years later. I won't tell you what the law says — that's deliberately not what this tool does. What I can tell you from practice judgment: this is exactly the situation where a fourteen-year clean record gets protected by making one phone call before anything goes in Dana's file.

So here's the honest sequence: a conversation first, a hand-off to a human second, and a written document only if and when it's actually the right instrument. You still get real help today:

The conversation plan — not disciplinary, only true: "Dana, we've missed you four Saturdays and I want to understand what's going on before anything else." Listen first. What she tells you determines everything that follows.
2.

What I'd have asked first (assumptions labeled): has anyone actually talked to her — or would this warning be a surprise? Do you know from Dana, or only secondhand? Did she call out or no-show? Has anyone else missed shifts without consequence in fourteen years — because if Dana becomes the first person ever disciplined for attendance, that's a consistency problem with a name on it.
3.

The staff grumbling, handled honestly — "I'm handling it, and I don't discuss one person's situation with another" — which is both true and the sentence your team most needs to hear you say.
4. The hand-off email to a human, already drafted and ready to send — two sentences on the situation, one on what you've worked through here.

Educational, not legal advice. Seek counsel if you would like a legal opinion.
AI does not replace human judgment — this is a decision you own.