Recently I have become aware that a co-worker of mine has a history of brushes with the law, and is presently facing a case for which he may actually serve jail time.
My dilemma is whether I should disclose this to my employer. The impact to us is that he may leave us in the lurch if/when he goes to jail. Also I personally feel creeped out by his criminal history and am uncomfortable working with him. His last 3 cases have been domestic violence… one currently pending, one dismissed without prejudice, one conviction (this is the past 5 years). Previous to that is a list of non-violent offenses… suffice to say he seems to believe that rules are for other people.
He did not disclose this information to me. I simply got a crazy vibe off the guy and started poking around. He is apparently oblivious to his online presence because it starts with social media stuff, leads to some whacko message board postings, and ends in some public state and county websites detailing his court cases in depressing detail.
I should also mention that the identification is unmistakable, for reasons I’ll omit. I can’t see how our company background check missed this, unless they only checked his current state of residence. If I told my boss I know she’d fire him.
What are my ethical responsibilities here? Am I obligated to play dumb since this information wasn’t voluntarily provided to me? Or am I obligated to out the wife-beater?
My inclination is to let this play itself out and monitor the court proceedings. Then if he’s convicted and sentenced, and tells us he needs a sudden 3-month “medical leave”, then I’ll come forward.
In my opinion, you are not being paid management wages, so you should keep your yap shut for now. Let the chips fall where they may. That’s what they get paid bigger bucks for.
That said, sorry he is making you uncomfortable. That’s tough to work with.
Well, if the worker lied on the application, then there’s grounds. As for the source, what if you (or your boss) read about the issue in the newspaper? There’s nothing ethically wrong by pointing out something known to the public.
You would have to show your boss the evidence and mention your concern. Either she or HR should allow the co-worker to respond before firing him.
I’d only drop the dime if his history has the potential to hurt you in someway. If he’s a violent type, he might seek revenge if he learned you got him fired. That risk isn’t worth it if chances are high he’s going to jail anyway.
ETA: Bringing attention to this could also get the hiring official (your boss?) in trouble. Maybe that’s not a horrible thing in your view, but I personally would feel guilty for causing that.
He didn’t tell you, so what are you going to do, tell your boss you started snooping into his history? I’m sorry, that’s not going to make anyone comfortable. Stand back and keep tabs on it but don’t go to the boss unless you have some reason to actually be afraid.
The kicker is that our group culture is one of those that socializes together, does family outings together, etc. I may be relocating to his city in the near future and there will be expectations that we’ll sort of bond together as a mini-team.
I’m going to look like a jerk when I say “There’s no way in hell I or my family will hang out with this guy”. He’s extremely charming and friendly in a work setting… nobody has any complaint except that he tends to dominate conversations.
I’ve never worked in any setting where it enhanced one’s own position to gain a reputation, especially among management, as a snitch. Particularly as a prying snitch. You may well manage to get the guy fired, but the people to whom you rat him out aren’t going to value you more for having done it.
I’m not aiming to get the guy fired. He’ll either to go jail or flake out in some other way. My motivations are (A) I do not want the company to invest him with a lot of responsibility only to leave us holding the bag, and (B) I do not want any social relations at all.
If you think it is that important, perhaps you should have provided a link. Whatever hir recent experience might have been, I can look back on 37 years in the workforce (I got my first job at 15) in which time I worked at everything from a funeral home to coal mining to the military to residential treatment to retail sales to law enforcement to public education. In none of those settings would being “management’s informant” have been a plus in one’s personnel file. If you get that reputation, your peers will tend to be guarded around you, if not outright distrustful of you. Management, although they may put the information they are given to use, will also mark you as somebody who will dig up damaging information on another, on your own time and at no superior’s behest, and then pass it along. They will not trust you, either. Promotions become less likely because they will not want you in their midst. Saying you “did it for the company” won’t really change much. “Company men” have never been much beloved, even by the company.
OP, does your company have a compliance hotline where you can leave an anonymous complaint. Many companies do. It is then up to the legal/hr dept. to follow up. You could leave the link to the detailed conviction history on the hotline recording, with your concern about this individual in your group.
(a) Is that a management responsibility of yours? If not, it’s literally none of your business. If he passed the company’s background check without lying, then that’s the company’s business and how they choose to run it. If his current employment status is OK with the company, then he has done nothing wrong by their standards, but, unfortunately, chances are that what YOU have done may be a fireable offense–prying into the private life of a fellow employee. Have you also looked into the backgrounds & criminal records of your other employees? If not, you might want to look into that…
(b) Is totally within your control, in all ways, wherever you go. Who you are friends with and who you associate with outside of work is always your choice, else it’s harassment.
I should have provided a link - that was bad form on my part. I think the TruCelt thing boil down to she reported a coworker for drug use because of how the coworker smelled. The company did a drug test, it came back positive. However, Trucelt is no longer at the company, her coworker is still employed there. At post #110 of this thread you get to the meat of the matter when TruCelt says:
I think you should note your motivations in looking for and trying to find out this information. You did not happen to come upon this information due to some freak occurrence that had nothing to do with anything else. What happened was you did not like this person, or his personality; the way you phrase it is you got a “crazy vibe”. So, you were actively seeking to find negative information on this person because you did not like him. Your reaction to this information, or how serious or relevant it is will taint your ability to determine the materiality of this information in regards to his position with the company. I know where I work this is clearly against the black and white policy written in the employee manual.
You may end up having to deal with the consequences of being a snitch if you report him. It could backfire on you in unintended ways. Not implying it would be a bad thing to report him, just that it might open up a can of worms if you do.
How did he pass a background check if you were so easily able to figure it out?
How would you feel if you reported him, he got initially fired, but was found not guilty and then successfully sued for his job back?
How awkward would it feel if he found out you were the one that tried to get him fired?
The thing is that (a) much of his work will fall on me if he leaves suddenly, and (b) this means that the consequences of his shoddy work and poor strategic choices will fall upon me, not him.
That’s technically true, but it’s naive to ignore the coercive nature of outside-of-work socialization in many companies nowadays. Especially where I work.
At any rate, after some reflection I’ve realized that this situation is just a symptom of a deeper management dysfunction (reckless risk-taking, rushed groupthink decision-making, selective perception). The best thing for me to do is find work elsewhere.