Quitting

WT

I have several unions on site but am concerned with one Teamsters unit with a particularly agressive union business manager. We have a couple of weeks of our heaviest work of the year right now. One of my "problem employees" recently came in, left his keys, and announced that he was done and would not be back. I sent a follow up letter to him stating that he had quit and giving him information about his last pay and other post employment issues. There was no response to the letter. He did not return to work the next day and has been gone for three days now. However, I would not be surprised for him to have a change of heart after our current heavy work load has ended. At that time, I would expect the union to come in and demand that we take him back. I do not find much on this subject in my various books and reference materials.

Do any of my fellow forumites have experience with arbitration with unions asking to restore employment to unit members who have voluntarily quit?

Down_the_Middle

WT
I can't imagine ANY arbitrator reinstating a voluntary quit based on your example. The decision on whether the employee returns rests solely w/the employer. I remember taking something like this "to the mat" a few years ago and the arbitrator was not very amused at the unions decision to grieve the goofy thing.

sonny

I agree with DTM. This should be a non issue

davids

I agree that this should be a non-issue, however, you never know with an arbitrator. A suggestion I would make is for you to hire a replacement immediately. Part of your position will then be that you accepted the resignation in good faith and acted upon that good faith by incurring the costs of recruiting and training a new employee.

Brother Bluto

Our plant is non-union and want to keep it that way. We had a 10 year employee throw her keys in on a Friday and returned the following Monday in uniform and began working. She went to the VP and asked for her keys. We placed her on a three day, paid, suspended leave and assigned her in writing to state what she had done wrong and what action she planned to take to correct the problem. She had also been informed in the suspension letter that she would be on a 90 day probationary period upon her return. During the 90 days she would be able to demonstrate her effort to correct her problem. She did not successfully complete the 90 days...about a month and a half into it she resigned again. It may have drawn things out a little, but when the time came to terminate the relationship we had everything documented and management looked like the goods guys!

WT

This would also put the arbitrator in the position of mandating that the replacement be layed off to make room for the other employee to come back. On the other hand, keeping the position open would tend to make a third party think the employer was doubtful about whether the employee really resigned or not.