Car siezed - guns and drugs

nohr4u1yr

I need you expert advice as I have never dealt with this type of situation before.

1. employee calls in yesterday at 6am stating she will be late - calls in again at 2pm stating she can not make it in because her rental car was impounded

2. employee calls in today at 8am - stating she will not be in today - she states she let a "friend" borrow her rental car and her friend was pulled over and guns and drugs were found in the car.

3. employee told manager today that she is very scared and doesn't know what to do - but she is still taking her scheduled vacation time tomorrow and monday.

What can I do in this situation? What questions can I ask? HELP!

deniseE

I think what you can do, is call the police dept. in the area and see if she has been charged with anything. Then follow your policy from there.

Your ee seems willing to share these details with you and it's probably best that she is on prescheduled leave at this time. It gives you a chance to sort things out without any concern that it is retaliatory in any way

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-14-05 AT 09:43AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Actually you can ask anything you want to ask. I would ask, for starters: Are you incarcerated? Why can you not report to work? Have you been charged with a crime? Do you have an attorney? When do you expect that you can return to work? What type of leave are you requesting? Do you think that our policies should excuse these absences? Do you realize that our attendance rules/policy will apply to these absences?

I might conclude the questioning with a recommendation that she call a cab and report to work.

(edit) I didn't understand that she was already off on vacation leave. If so, why did she call in in the first place?

She will also have a problem with the rental company as she signed a contract there stating that no other drivers would be in posession of the car. My gut tells me she's lying about loaning the rental car to a friend, but that's irrelevant.

TN HR

You've got another problem to contend with. One that will rear it's ugly head down the road if she makes it through this one.

I will bet money that she "rented" out her car for dope. This is fairly common. The dealer needs wheels for a few hours or even a day and she's jonesing for crack. They trade. He gets nailed riding around with tools of his trade and now the ee is crapping herself.

Bad juju.

marc

With genuflections to Don's gut feeling - his questions are on target. I think you need to let this play out a bit. Beyond whatever is happening right now with attendance, and I too am a bit confused about whether or not she is on an approved leave, she may not miss much work. On the premise that she is innocent until proven guilty, I would let the system do it's work.

Likewise, your attendance system should do it's work.

You have an interesting work force.

HRinFL

You can get a copy of the police report under the FOIA. You may have to pay a small fee for the copies, but the report should give you valuable information. It will also identify the officer(s) that handled the situation - you can try to call and speak to them to see what happened. Then I agree with Don, talk to the ee to get her side of the story and take it from there.

szemcumo

I really don't see what it matters why she is not at work other than once the attendance policy is violated she is gone regardless. It is not a free get out of attendance policy because I am in jail card!!!!

Don D

It does matter (to me). If an employee called in with that story, I would feel a duty to my employer to find out as much about the details as humanly possible and then some.

HRockets

I also agree with Don. Also, it has been my experience if drugs are involved, usually the ee leaves employment. I would definitely follow policy and I feel the unscheduled leave does not have any bearing on the scheduled leave. What if tomorrow and Monday were for family time or drug pick up at the airport?

deniseE

I'm sure that there's more to this story than the brief summary provided...but I would have to (within parameters of our policies) give some consideration to the fact that the EE did call in and provide the information. She could have simply called in sick or used whatever "I can't come to work today" loopholes the company has...we all have them, smart ee's that don't want to get caught know how to use them. But this ee called her boss and gave embarrassing details about the situation. I'm not saying she's not guilty of anything, I'm just saying that we don't know. Based upon the information provided so far, I couldn't terminate her here.

I'll be curious to see how this one turns out.

nohr4u1yr

**update**

I spoke to the ee yesterday - the story is...

She was at home and at 3am she received a phone call from a friend stating that she was in trouble - while she was on the phone my ee heard gun shots. She called 911. One person was shot in the face!

My ee's car was at this friends house and while the cops where there they searched her car (for whatever reason) and found drugs and a gun.

She provided me with a police statement. She was not arrested - but her car is still impounded.

I feel their are still holes in her story but hopefully she will see the light and realize that she is hanging out with a bunch of thugs as well as she is a single mother with a small child and is putting her in harms way.

She stated the reason she wasn't in on Wednesday is becuase she was up since the 3am phone call and at the hospital most of Wednesday and Thursday as well as making a statement at the police station.

I don't think this story has ended yet so I will keep you all posted.

Thank you for your advice - this forum is GREAT!

Don D

Her personal choices aside, she's irresponsible from the get-go! Some punk/thug getting shot in the face across town somehow creates the necessity for her to stay up all night and stay at the hospital for two days? I don't think so. My read is that she has absolutely no regard for a personal responsibility to be at work. Her allegiance is to the thugs she h angs with and she is playing you and the company for patsies. My advice is to get rid of her as swiftly as you can.

szemcumo

Hey Don, just wanted to restate what I said earlier. I didn't mean it wasn't important to know the whole story as to the drug/gun thing at all. I was trying to say that regardless of her excuses once she violated the attendance policy for whatever reason she would be gone. I guess I didn't make that clear. We have termed while someone was in jail because they were not available for work. If she is off checking on thugs or for whatever reason not a work the attendance policy would prevail. Thanks.

teewhy68

My spidey senses are tingling on this one. Her story has changed a little bit from the beginning and the fact that she was at the hospital and making statements to the police may imply that she knows more than she is letting on. I'd keep a close eye on this one!!

nohr4u1yr

**update**

Her car was released from impound - she left for lunch called her supervisor and stated that she is unable to return to work today because she needs to take care of her issue.

When she comes in tomorrow she will be terminated.

As I stated previously - I hope she comes to her senses and realizes that the choices she is making will end her up in jail and her child in a foster home.

I am only 38 years old - thank God my parents were strict, caring and relentless in their determination to bring me up right and be successful.

I think I will call them now and let them know...

Take care...