So the other day, I went to work hungover. I had reason to celebrate, and yes, it was dumb of me to do so. One of the managers I didn’t get along with went and ran and told the plant manager that I smelled like a brewery. I understand. He’s doing what a manager is supposed to do. So I went to the hospital and took a breathalyzer and a urine sample. I volunteered to do this, because I have nothing to hide. The clinic passed me on the breathalyzer, and yet they fired me a few hours later without even waiting for the result of the urine test. What are my rights?
depends on where you live. you may have none.
Your rights depend more on what your agreement is with your employer or what the rules of the workplace are. (and what jurisdiction you work in). As an employer, I think I have the right to fire someone for coming to work hungover if I wish, and certainly if they are even a little bit still under the influence.
If you’re in an at-will employment state (and you probably are), they can fire you at any moment for any reason or no reason. “We don’t want you working here” is all they need.
What is passed? While the legal limit is 0.08 I would consider termination for anyone that was under but near that number if they worked around machinery.
What do you mean by ‘passed’? Was the level low enough that you wouldn’t have gotten a DUI if driving? That might not be low enough for work. I’ve worked at places where any alcohol level was too much.
Any reason as long as it’s not because they are part of a protected class. I don’t think buzzed or hungover is a protected class in any state.
I live in the midwest, so probably not a lot of rights. I don’t think I was very clear in my first post. What I want to know is even though I passed the breathalyzer (I had the equivalent of a shot of NyQuil on my breath) that they decided to fire me without waiting for the urine test to come back. Are there any rights I’m missing here?
I blew a .019.
Which State do you live in? In some you may have rights. Others they can fire you just because the feel like it that day.
Indiana
Legal advice is best suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
That would have lost me my last two jobs.
So you were 1/4 impaired (or by European standards, 40% impaired).
If the employer’s standard is “no alcohol impairment while on the job” that’s probably sufficient to excuse giving you the boot. 0.02 is IIRC like having half a beer in the last hour or two. (Typically two beers = legal limit, IIRC)
However, they don’t need a reason to fire you.
I don’t operate any heavy machinery, unless you consider a laptop to be in that category.
Easily. Coming in to work smelling like a brewery would not make me popular with the bosses regardless of BAC.
Are you in a union? If so there may be additional rights or a grievance procedure in your employment contract. Otherwise, you’re at-will, and they can fire you for smelling like a brewery (or smelling like nothing at all) if they wish.
Were you given an employee handbook? Does it cover this? It may say something about “any impairment,” or it may even say something about personal hygiene, so if you literally smelled like a brewery, you could be fired. I have been a supervisor in Indiana. We could fire people for wearing inappropriate clothing to work, and that could include inappropriately cleaned (or unclean, rather) clothing. You could be stone cold sober, but if you spilled a bottle of beer on yourself, and didn’t change, you could get fired. The key to firing people for a first offense was that it had to be spelled out in the employee handbook, and everyone had to have a copy, and they had to attend a training session where we went over it with them. Firable offenses were one thing we strongly emphasized.
We expected people to be stone cold sober at all times at work, although if anyone came up with a test that showed they were impaired to a very small extent, further tests would be done to make sure it wasn’t their own metabolism: I think diabetics can sometimes fail a test that is looking for .000 alcohol, and so can people with some metabolic disorders. That wasn’t your problem, though.
Why do you think they should have waited for your urine test? to check your blood sugar? your alcohol source was external, and you knew it, so why does it matter?
You should have called in sick. You weren’t going to be giving a good performance that day, and should have used one of your sick days. That you had a reason to celebrate is entirely irrelevant. You don’t have to get trashed to celebrate, and you don’t have the right to make your celebrations other people’s problems. Learn a lesson, and drive on.
Well, that is a “measurable” amount. What does your employee handbook say regarding that?
I’m afraid I can’t offer you any good news either. I was an HR Manager in a manufacturing setting in Indiana for 20 years. We had a zero tolerance policy for alcohol or marijuana in the workplace. If you had come in hung over and we sent you in for a test, your .019 was greater than zero, meaning you had violated the policy and would be subject to dismissal.
Had you come in with the dose of Nyquil you referenced, we might possibly have just sent you home, unpaid, written you up for coming in impaired, and given you another chance. But clearly you were reported as ‘smelling like a brewery’, so in your company’s place, I’d have done the same.
More than likely you were given an employee handbook when you began working. And more than likely you were asked to sign a form that shows that you received it and would be considered responsible for knowing its contents. If you still have it, take a quick look. I’d bet the farm there’s a zero tolerance policy in there somewhere.
The days of the 3-martini lunch and its cousins are over forever. With the increased emphasis on safety in the workplace, both for the employee and those who work around the employee, most companies in a right-to-work state, which Indiana is, would have let you go.
I concur fully with the poster above who pointed out that you should have used a sick day. If you had called in, told your supervisor that you had a headache and wouldn’t be in, you’d still have a job.
As it is, live and learn from this. We are all human and ‘stuff’ happens occasionally that prevents us from being 100% capable to work. That is largely why we have discretionary sick days.