I've Got Someone Sacked .....

From the boss's point of view, I can't see how he would admonish the team leader for the manner in which he dealt with this. If the OP's only crime was not turning round and driving the employee all the way back home again then reporting it when he got back to work, then he's done nothing wrong.

The other point that Castiel is missing is the benefit of having an employee on site when an issue like this is raised. It's far easier to judge a situation when the accused employee is standing before you rather than on the other end of a telephone. A boss can read facial expressions, better gauge reactions and levels of remorse, hear any explanation 'from the horse's mouth', even smell his breath and assess if he really is drunk or not.
 
Castiel said:
No, not personally. We do have various transport related publications floating about the office though. The ones on my reception table at the moment are Coach and Bus week, Route One and some brochures from Scania and Optare.

Why do you ask?
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always arrives in my inbox on thursday which makes me very excited, kind of the argos catalogue for operators :)
 
Usually when operating heavy machinery the limit is zero (i think). I work at a desk but because i work for an engineering company there is a zero tolerance policy for everyone.
 
I'm surprised there isn't some test they have to determine if he is over a limit or not - couldn't they have a breathalyser or something? Seems quite harsh just to sack him when there has been no measure of the actual concentration of alcohol in his blood.

Anyway, if he was over some limit, and began to operate this heavy machinery, then I can see why he would be fired - it shows a lack of respect for the safety of the other workers, and even if nothing came of it in this case, then in the future he might show poor judgement or indulge in risky behaviour again. If however, he hadn't started working yet, and had made no indication that he intended to, then I'd have thought some kind of warning would be enough - maybe he decided himself that he shouldn't operate the machinery.

Telling him to pull a sickie might have been easier on your guilt feelings, but imo telling the boss was the right thing to do anyway. The boss should have had some objective measure of how drunk the chap actually was though.
 
100% in the right OP. To the people who are berating you I'd reiterate the point that there's a safety impact here with operating machinery, and him throwing a sicky at that point would have effectively been fraudulent anyways.

You made a tough call, but the right call, chin up matey.
 
Robbie G said:
I wouldn't be friends with someone that drinks before work :). Would be no skin off my nose to dob them in and not one single **** would have been given.
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He had 4 pints several hours before hand, so you know he isn't going to be drooling on the floor is he? The op should have warned him and to make sure he gets something to eat and a coffee, perhaps rearrange something at work.

Not to simply dob him in, that was uncool, it may have been a one off? who knows.
 
OP did the correct thing. if he had have told him to take a sick day, fair enough but what if he does the same again next week and causes an accident? OP has done nothing other than think of the wellbeing of others. the bloke who got sacked obviously had no respect for the job or his family elst he wouldn't have been drinking, hopefully now they will give the job to someone who will appreciate it.
 
GSXRMovistar said:
Afraid not a moron but as with everything there is context, for example why had the lad been drinking, was he having personal problems or was he just being stupid?

We don't know but part of being a good team leader/manager (and to an extent a friend or colleague) is understanding a situation and its context before making final decisions or undertaking actions that could lead to an outcome such as this one.

I stand by my earlier comments I don't believe the OP handled this situation as best as he could have (in fact far from it).
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Assuming it is anything like my work place. That is for the investigation to decide, it is not upto an employer even a team leader. Team leaders have very few powers. Where they do take such things into consideration. A team leaders job is to ensure they carry out no work and report it.
In such an environment it is usual for everyone to have training in such policy and for them to know what to do.
 
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Malc said:
Possible if you're talking extremes which situations rarely come to. The most likely outcome is that the OP just loses face with his co workers and in turn trust and respect. It's unlikely that he's going to get bullied in to leaving as you're suggesting.



The options as I see it are:

1) Tell him to go home sick and don't do it again otherwise you will be forced to report him and he will lose his job.
2) Let him enter work then report him and he loses his job.
3) Tell him to go home and then report him, he'll get a disciplinary but probably not lose his job.
4) Ignore it and let the guy work.

Option 1 has the slight risk of the OP getting a disciplinary later down the line, which if he's clever, he would be able to easily get out of. It's also very unlikely as he's already said he had a good relationship with the employee. The immediate outcome is that nothing changes with the OP, the employee keeps his job and hopefully learns his lesson. If it happens again then I agree the OP has no other choice then to report the employee but at least he has tried and if he does have to report the employee he wont have lost as much face with the other staff.
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Except, if the first the OP hears about it happening again is when the employee has just killed someone through operating machinery then it becomes slightly more serious.

Malc said:
Option 2 is just going code red straight away. It's an extreme option that only worsens the two people in question's careers. It's also slightly irresponsible as it lets the drunk person on site and worse still the OP brought him on site. How will this look to his superiors?
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We don't know that the OP didn't report him straight away. Perhaps he even walked him to the manager's office himself immediately upon arriving on site.

Perhaps the OP was only told as they were entering the work's car park, and it would have been a 2 hour round trip to take him home/get back?

Malc said:
Option 3 is technically the correct thing to do, but considering the environment and the relationship between the two people in question, not the best option for the OP's career and not the Option that I would have chosen.
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Again, this depends on when the OP was told, and how the reporting to the manager was handled.

Malc said:
Option 4 endangers everyone and is irresponsible. Worst choice.
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Agreed :)
 
On a personal level, should have told him to pull a sickie but in no way allow him to operate heavy machinery
On a professional level, you can't blame yourself. Why did the ****wit tell you?
 
Robbie G said:
From the boss's point of view, I can't see how he would admonish the team leader for the manner in which he dealt with this.
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if the op allowed the employee to work with his knowledge the boss and the op would be liable for prosecution if someone was hurt as a result of the employees state. if the op took the guy home and said nothing they would still be liable for prosecution if something happened in the future as a result of the employees behaviour and consumption of alcohol where they as a company management / team leader had knowledge of the issue. and if heads started rolling you can bet the employee would be trying everything to say the behaviour was accepted by management thus blaming the op.

If the op said nothing but either told the op to go home sick or just get on with work, he, depending on the company policy would probably be committing gross misconduct because of the seriousness of the implications.

as a team leader in this sort of environment, he would not have the empowerment or authority to make that decision without consequences. You would need a director or senior manager to basically say to the employee, go home sort it out don’t do it again. The only way to get to that stage would be to tell them. then if they weigh up all the risks of keeping an employee who does this vs the ease of replacing them and decide just to send him home that is their call.

The op was between a rock and a hard place on this but no matter what he did, he would have needed to report the incident to the management or put his own job at risk.

Kermit said:
I think he'd have a reasonable case for unfair dismissal given that he's been sacked something that can't be proved unless your boss keeps a breath test system handy in his office and tested the guy there and then. I'm not sticking up for him as it does sound a bit silly drinking so close to working hours but if he'd been out on the town the night before (and home by midnight) and had 5 or 6 pints and mentioned this you'd not have thought much about it but there's a chance the levels of alcohol remaining in the system might be similar depending on your start time.
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sorry but any consumption of alcohol within a reasonable timeframe of operating machinery is good cause for gross misconduct and dismissal. 4 cans on the same day as working with machinery would definitely be seen as unreasonable.

no chance of seeking unfair dismissal on this. would be a direct breach of pretty much any uk company policy where the operator was using machinery or driving for work.
 
Can we have any word on the drunks job description and the kind of company he works in?

It shows no leadership taking a guy to work and then going to your boss. A leader would have told him to get out the car, head home, then continue to tell the boss that he had to leave a guy home cos he wasnt suitable.
 
AmTechFox said:
Who needs enemies when he has a friend like you!

Deary me. shocking. :eek:
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this is work, real life, not school. the OP did the correct thing, the only person to blame in this, is the bloke drinking before operating heavy machinery. the bloke is obviously an idiot with no respect.
i would bet my bottom dollar, had the OP said nothing and the bloke in question caused an accident, he would have used in his defence the fact that he had told his supervisor/tl, on the way into work and therefore it is HIS fault as he should have sent him home or reported him. the OP was put in a position where there was only one thing to do, and he did it.
 
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