I've Got Someone Sacked .....

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 01:03

...and i feel terrible about it. I hate playing good cop , bad cop :mad:

I'm a Team Leader at work and pick up a workmate on my way to work. On the way there he told me he'd had 4 cans of lager a couple of hours previous. As he drives machinery at work i told my supervisor what he'd said in the car. Subsequently the lad was taken to office and then walked off site. He had worked with me for a year and a half.

I know i did the right thing by telling my supervisor but i can't help thinking how i could have handled it differently so the lad would have kept his job. To make matters worse he was one of my best workers, knew every job and more and was always talking about trying for promotion. Also he's just bought a house and is paying for a holiday for early next year. This keeps going around and around in my head.

I'm not paid enough for this

and my head is buzzing ......

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 01:12

Mickie said:
i'd have also told him to pull a sick, not go behind the lads back and get him sacked

This is exactly what i wish i'd done.

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 01:33

Raymond Lin said:
Hindsight is wonderful thing.

Yes indeed it is. I just wish i'd pulled over and told him to take a sickie.

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 01:45

VoG said:
some of the engineering firms ive worked for over the years, theres been a zero tolerance approach to drink ( or drugs for that matter ), it's normally in your contract, summary dismissal if your under the influence, & ive seen it done, sacked on the spot & down the road, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

It's in our contract

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 11:53

As stated I really wish I'd told him to go onto the sick, but I was put on the spot and had to make a decision quickly. The lad had drank 4 cans of 6.5% lager and said his last can was 3 hours before the start of shift. The lads been suspended , but over the last 10 years when this type of thing has happened before the lads have all been finished. I'm going to see the boss this afternoon and explain that this will have been a shock to his system , a wake up call and to take that into consideration , for what its worth.

albert · 22 Sep 2011 at 18:26

UPDATE: Talking to my supervisor today about it and he said when he went into the office with the lad he could immediately smell beer and told me he'd definitely had more than 4 cans (his words). The sunroof on my car was open which is why I didn't smell anything. Also I went to my manager and more or less said that he's a good worker and everyone deserves a second chance. The reply I got from him was 'if he was a bad worker and done the same thing would you want him back?'

albert · 24 Sep 2011 at 03:26

I've just finished work about an hour ago and have been going through this thread.

To clarify , he never told me what he'd drank on the journey into work. He told me about 30 steps from the clocking in machine.

Firstly, i had literally from clocking in , to having a short handover then onto the shop floor to make a decision on what to do. Secondly, i reported it to my supervisor who then made the decision to take it further onto the manager.

I still stand by what i did yet I'm still beating myself up over it big time - like should i have told him to go home and phone in sick (which i didn't think of at the time). He was the nicest of nice lads who i know would have taken this as a kick up the backside if he was to keep his job. I've been into to see the big boss and more or less pleaded with him to give him a second chance because everyone makes a mistake and deserves a 2nd chance. I'm not defending drunk people going to work but it was completely out of character for the lad....

The replies on this forum are by people who have had time to think and then make an opinion. Some of the replies have even been re-edited (like this one!!). At the time I had no time to think , i was on the spot and had to make a decision there and then.

To all the people who think i'm a 'grass' 'snitch' etc, well i've been working long enough to have seen a lot of things that no man should ever see. I've seen a leg crushed by a forklift , bones i shouldn't have and a foot that wasn't a foot ... and all these accidents were caused by SOBER drivers.

albert · 24 Sep 2011 at 12:29

Castiel said:
Which is somewhat different from the events you regaled us with earlier.

..Just re-read what I originally wrote. It should have said way into work and not car.

albert · 9 Oct 2011 at 00:31

Bumping this thread with an update.

The lad had his hearing on Wednesday and was finished. The lad got in touch with me last night on Facebook chat and he said he held no grudges against me as i was only doing my job and that he can't believe how stupid he was. He wished me well and told me he had a couple of interviews lined up for next week.

What kind of shocked me was what my manager had said to him at his disciplinary. At the time i was told to make a signed statement of what the lad had told me at the time.

Apparantley at the disciplinary my manager told the lad that if i hadn't made that statement he would have just have got away with a verbal warning. Fact is my supervisor and manager made the descision to send the lad home , both telling me he stunk of booze. Basically my manager told him 'i'm gutted for you , i don't want to let you go but your Team Leader told us ... '

I'm thinking about approaching my manager on Monday and telling him that i didn't suspend the lad and that HE made that decision , instead of passing the buck all the way down to me and him accepting no responsibilty in what happened , but then again whats the point , the lads gone now.