Former EE Admits Drug Use, Rehire?
HRQ
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An employee worked for us Marh-July of this year and left when she NCNS. Today, she contacted her former supervisor and asked for her job back. Apparently she used drugs before working for us, cleaned up while she worked for us, then slipped up one night and used some illegal drugs. She NCNS to work and was too embarassed to tell her supervisor that she'd messed up.
Now she wants to work for us again. She was a good employee and the supevisor would like to have her back. We do not do drug testing of new hires, and our policy addresses use or influence of drugs while at the workplace. She told her supervisor she is currently subject to regular testing as part of a program at a halfway house.
What should we do? We've never suspected her of using or being under the influence of illegal drugs while at work. Had she not been honest with us about her drug use and instead just blamed "personal problems" for the No Show and begged for her job back, this wouldn't even be in question. She's done nothing to lose our trust except the NCNS when she left us.
Should/could we require drug testing? At whose expense? What about asking for her most recent drug test results from her program? Or just thank her for her honesty and hire her and keep an eye on her?
She would be working directly with children, so of course we want to make a responsible hiring decision.
Thanks for your help, everyone!
Now she wants to work for us again. She was a good employee and the supevisor would like to have her back. We do not do drug testing of new hires, and our policy addresses use or influence of drugs while at the workplace. She told her supervisor she is currently subject to regular testing as part of a program at a halfway house.
What should we do? We've never suspected her of using or being under the influence of illegal drugs while at work. Had she not been honest with us about her drug use and instead just blamed "personal problems" for the No Show and begged for her job back, this wouldn't even be in question. She's done nothing to lose our trust except the NCNS when she left us.
Should/could we require drug testing? At whose expense? What about asking for her most recent drug test results from her program? Or just thank her for her honesty and hire her and keep an eye on her?
She would be working directly with children, so of course we want to make a responsible hiring decision.
Thanks for your help, everyone!
Comments
You mentioned she is involved in a halfway house program. Was that because there are some criminal charges she is working through? If so, you would obviously need to check that out. If the halfway house is already doing the checking, they are trying to re-integrate people in their program into society. If you are truly serious about bringing this person back-on, I would initiate a discussion with them, with the potential ees approval, regarding sharing the test results. That way, any expense is already handled. If that won't fly, I would do it at my expense because I want the testing entity beholden to me, not the ee. Perhaps you could have her reimburse you through a payroll deduction.
Are there any licensing issues in your state with respect to admitted drug abusers working with Children?
The whole thing about the children contact gives me the willies. I can get extremely paranoid about liability exposure and I admit that my imagination begins to work overtime on this one. How would you deal with any parent that became aware of this issue? Don't they always find this stuff out somehow?
In the past 3 1/2 years we have hired back (after a ncns or term for other reason) approximately 12 people. Of those 12 we hired back/gave a second chance to, etc. only 1 still works here. For us, statistically speaking, it's an absolute failure to bring someone back - ever. We're human, we get roped in by the sob stories & the promises to do better next time, etc. (& I'm not trying to be sarcastic), but in each case, what got them term'd in the first place gets 'em term'd in the second. I attended a seminar a couple of years ago with Barry Shamis (he doesn't know it, but he is my mentor) and he said there was a study done by one of the universities - can't remember which - Pennsylvania, Duke, ????? - and the study followed a group of people that said they wanted to change something in their life. Once the study was done, the results were staggering - 88% failed, which of course means that only 12% succeeded. Moral of the story? You can adopt a process whereby you bring someone back hoping they are a part of the 12% group & really have changed or you can chalk the request up to 88% fail = she/he will probably fail. Now, we follow the 88% standard & don't ask them to come back. Good luck with your decision.
Notwithstanding the "red flags" that are waving here, I'd be inclined to suggest to this person that they will be eligible for consideration after demonstrating some stability in employment with someone else. Perhaps after they have worked for another employer for a year or more you'll be more inclined to re-consider them. I'd be reluctant to re-employ this person so quickly............. Good luck
Your obligation is not to this individual no matter how much you may have liked them and may want to help them out. Your obligation is to your employer and, in this case more importantly, to the children. This person already has a track record, and as Mwild pointed out, the success rate for rehabbing drug offenders is not good. If there is an opening in your company, your chances of finding an even better ee are good. Let's see, NCNS and drug use... you can't get much worse than this individual, especially in the child care business.
Time to move on, both of you.
We had one lady who came back to us just because we had better maternity benefits and she was pregnant. She left again shortly after the baby was born.
We chose not to rehire her. The supervisor told her she is welcome to reapply once she's held another job for at least a year to show stability and then we'd consider interviewing her.