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I somewhat agree, but not completely. The employee demonstrated an unwillingness to accept her shortcomings; in addition, some of the shortcomings could not remediated through administrative training. As managers, we should learn from this experience when filtering applications for new hires. When a candidate does not have the discipline to check his/her grammar and sentence structure in a cover letter/resume and any correspondence prior to being hired, it is often an indication of a person's work ethic. For me, this translates into a lack of pride. There is nobody who has perfect grammar, we rely on spell check or dictionaries to assist us. I don't catch all my mistakes but I try to take the time to double check my work and use the available resources.
If grammar and spelling have been identified as problems with this employee, a quick cut and paste into word can help reduce the incidence of error. Personally, I'm surprised that a bookkeeper who has been trained to check for details albeit numeric ones, would be error-prone.
Up until the bookkeeper asked for new responsibilities, there is little indication of any problems, hence the increase in responsibilities (and possible pay). Perhaps the promotion or new responsibilities were not in line with the employee's skillset and were unfairly given or not supported. I don't think that the employee should be unfairly dismissed if this were the case.
When an employee fails to meet employment expectations, we have to consider the role of management in that failure. In this case, it could be that the employee was given responsibilities beyond her capabilities, poor training and support, just to name a few. Without knowing more details it wouldn't be fair for me to say the employee should be dismissed, or dismissal should even be on the table.
A thoughtful review process and a development plan should be in place. Every opportunity should be given to the employee to succeed. Also keep in mind, you can't hire a bookkeeper and expect to hire a writer/proofreader at the same price! The employer should have reasonable expectations as to how far an individual's role should be stretched.
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