Horseplay

Hunter1

Just found out that a month ago, one of our employees grabbed another in a bear hug from behind, lifted and squeezed him to the point that the second individual was hurt. No one reported the incident at the time, we just started hearing rumors about the second guy being hurt. We interviewed the two this morning, plus the only witness to the incident. First employee (union steward, of course) claims he was just trying to 'help' the second who has back problems from time to time (home remedy; lift the individual and suspend their weight from beneath their shoulders). ????
Second individual and witness say there was no talk about back problems, just horseplay, and the second individual, who was on vacation the following week could not participate in normal activities for a week. (He considered consulting an attorney, but dismissed that idea, and didn't even see a doctor.)
We have a rule about horseplay, but, unfortunately, it says horseplay resulting in serious injury could result in immediate suspension or discharge.
Especially for those of you who have unions, what say you in the way of discipline? P. S. This same individual was warned about horseplay 10 years ago, but according to our CBA, that can have no bearing on the current discipline. : (

System

"and the second individual, who was on vacation the following week could not participate in normal activities for a week. (He considered consulting an attorney, but dismissed that idea, and didn't even see a doctor.)"

This must be the third individual - the injured worker. Why would he initially mention an attorney if he didn't see a doctor? Did you complete an injury report? I'm guessing that if ee #1 was helping #3 with a form of therapy he would have had #3's approval. You should be able to determine whether or not it was horseplay and the extent of the injury from your interviews of all three employees.

Hunter1

The second individual is the injured employee. The third is the witness. The first employee did not have the injured employee's permission. Crout: You are correct, ten years is long enough to let bygones be bygones, BUT, this incident is almost exactly the same as the one ten years ago, and we haven't had to discipline anyone else for this infraction since that time. This guy shouldn't be left with the feeling that every ten years it's OK to injure a fellow employee. He's kind of a juvenile guy even though he's in his mid forties.

Crout

If you've interviewed witnesses and made the determination that it was horseplay go ahead and write the guy up. Since it's been 10 years since his last write up (do you really think that's unreasonable? I'm thinking 10 years is a pretty long time between disciplines) you would issue him the first level of discipline that your CBA allows, or what you have consistently done with other EE's in similar situations.

Don D

With a union, I'd recommend you let the 10 year old situation be just what it is, history. A level one disciplinary action is appropriate. Your policy needs tweaking too. Again, with a union, you would never win arbitration if you terminated someone for horseplay and had to get in a pissing contest over what 'serious injury' is or whose definition you use, or who determines it. I don't see much difference in what number 1 did and an employee slapping another on the face in the interest of waking him up.