alcohol and work

M Warner · July 2002

I have an employee of one year duration. I, and several of our employees, have witnessed him taking his lunch at the local bar. Several people have reported alcohol on his breath. Today I spoke to him briefly and definitely smelled alcohol. While this fellow looks flushed and disheveled, he does a slow but competent job. He is not endangering anyone. In fact, the president of the company, to whom he reports, approved a raise for him recently.
I don't want to tolerate alcohol abuse, which our employee handbook addresses clearly. At the same time, he is doing OK at a highly specialized job for which it is difficult to find a replacement. We do not wish to terminate him.
How should I address this issue with him?

March22Collector · July 2002

What is it that your handbook says about alcohol at work, and what are the disciplinary steps outlined in that handbook? Does it state that even the smell of alcohol on an employee's breath may be reason for an investigation? Is there anything in the handbook that states an employee may be given an alcohol test? If this were my situation, I'd pull the employee aside and take whatever disciplinary steps are appropriate as outlined in the Company handbook, in which case would be anywhere from a written warning to termination if the employee tests positive for alcohol.

mets · July 2002

Suggest you call him into your office and review with him your suspicions and what the ramifications could be if true. As with any workplace violation, the fact that a person is doing their job adequately should not interfere with your administering the policy effectively and fairly throughout your workplace. Your ability to counsel someone else will be hampered if you have knowledge and simply ignore this alleged violation of policy.

LFernandes · July 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-03-02 AT 08:25AM (CST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-03-02 AT 08:24 AM (CST)[/font]

Do you have a Drug Screen Policy or Random Drug Screen Policy? If not, I would put one in place, pronto. While you say that he is not endangering anyone, what about himself injuring himself on the job which would cost the company in Workers' Compensation costs.

I would not recommend looking the other way. What happens when another employee has the same problem and is disciplined for it? They could turn around and say discrimination because you ignored this problem.

First off, I would discuss the situation with the company's president if he reports directly to him. Tell him that it is becoming a serious issue as other employees have come to you with comments and complaints. Then I would discuss the issue with the employee. Suggest your EAP if you have one. Also, FMLA leave (if the employee is eligible) may be taken for treatment of substance abuse when provided by a healthcare provider. This may be another option for your employee.

If the behavior continues, then start progressive discipline.

You can't turn the other way on this one. Good luck.

Margaret Morford · July 2002

I'd like to offer a little bit different viewpoint. About 80% of the people who go through alcohol rehab say that it didn't matter how many times their family and friends begged them to get help, that it wasn't until their employer became aware of their alcohol problem that they went to get help. What an awesome responsibility we have to impact someone's life! Rather than going straight to corrective action, sit down and talk to the employee and tell him that it is common knowledge that he goes to a bar to have lunch and that people smell acohol on his breath, etc. Then tell him that he is a valued employee and you want him to know that if he needs a leave of absence to deal with his problem, you will get it for him and will hold his job. Almost always the employee will deny that he has a problem, but you've let him know that help is available that will not jeopardize his job. Then review your policy about alcohol and tell him that if you continue to observe this behavior, you'll have to address it with corrective action. Expect him to get written up a time or two before he really decides to do anything about his problem. If he gets to final written warning, remind him that if there is one more incident, you will be forced to terminate him and it will be too late to offer help so that he understands he can't request a leave to stop being terminated. It's too late then. You must not let this slide once you tell him you're aware of the problem. Otherwise, you're enabling him to drink.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge, Inc
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Gillian · July 2002

In line with Margaret's theme, California regulations provide that an employer with 25 or more employees must reasonably accomodate an employee who voluntarily enters an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program unless doing so would be an undue hardship to the employer. Reasonable accomodation would probably be providing time off so that the employee can participate. If this occurs, of course, the employee may be saved as opposed to being fired, which seems to be what is desired. If the employee has no interest in participating then you are back to your policy and what to do about it. Corrective action would be appropriate.

One of the messages mentioned random drug testing. There are significant restriction on random drug testing in California. They are OK is specific job classifications where the work is highly regulated or where positions are critical to public safety, etc. In these types of jobs there is less of an expectation of privacy. In other jobs, random drug testing violates right to privacy in California.

Don D · July 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-03-02 AT 08:29AM (CST)[/font][p]No matter how good a job he's doing, the situation should be addressed. He's disheveled and mediocre you said. Maybe he would be a top performer if you enforce your alcohol abuse policy. Would suggest following your policy as its stated. If it allows referral or doesn't require immediate termination, counseling with him would be appropriate to suggest an EAP enrollment or either a referral. I would not give him the notion that it's OK to have lunch on the bar stool. It'll only get worse for him and the company. If the company president says to ignore it, the question changes from 'How do we address this problem?' to 'Do we reissue the whole handbook or just tell everyone to line through the alcohol abuse policy in their copy?' We had a salesman last year whose nationality was Belgian. He swore that in Belgium it's very appropriate to have a couple of beers with lunch every day. We swore that in America, at this company, its not.

M Warner · July 2002

Thank you one and all for your helpful insights. I hope I can help this fellow with his problem.

alcohol and work

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