My paralegal got arrested for DUI a few months ago. He will likely plead guilty next week (I won’t be representing him, but have offered to come and speak at the sentencing- I’m on pretty good terms with that judge). If so, he’ll probably go to jail for a minimum of 48 hours. We haven’t discussed whether this will be a “paid vacation”- we don’t have a formal “leave time” policy, he tells me when he wants time off and I’ve always let him take it and paid him- he’s never had an unpaid day off. The judge that will be sentencing him is notorious for not allowing people to serve their time on weekends.
I am inclined to tell him that I will either dock him for the 2 days or he can make it up on a weekend, his choice. I think that's perfectly reasonable, considering that most of the firms I know of would fire him as soon as the conviction hit his record, if not when he got arrested.
Is this punishing him for telling me the truth? If he just said he was going out of town or something, I'd give him the paid time off without a second thought. This is his second DUI arrest, the first one was thrown out on a technicality, if that makes a difference. I've also informed him that if his license gets suspended, he's out of a job.
Well? Reasonable, or am I being a horrible bitch?
Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but does he get an allotment of paid vacation and/or personal time? If so, is the issue that he doesn’t have any left to use or is it that you don’t think you should let him take vacation to serve jail time?
If he doesn’t get paid vacation, or he’s used it all up, then yes…I think it’s reasonable for him to make up the time. If he does get vacation/personal days and he has an unused allotment left, I think he should have to use that allotment to cover his jail time.
The man gets caught driving while under the influence of alcohol (which could have killed someone) twice. He basically gets off with a slap on the wrist and a couple of days away from home, unpaid and you think this is somehow too much punishment, why?
All I can say is he’s damn lucky he doesn’t work for me!
OK, so I clearly didn’t read the OP thoroughly. I retract my idiocy.
I stand by my original statement, though, that he should make up any time he has to take off for his sentence. I’m curious about the labor laws on this though…if you have no policy in place for a set amount of paid leave, and you would have given him days off if he hadn’t told you what they were for, then I wonder what the law would have to say about requiring him to make up time in this instance.
Well, Georgia is not a “right to work” state, so I think I can set whatever policy I want to as to leave. I’ve never said he can’t take time off when he asked for it, except once when he wanted a day during a trial week. He was fine when I said “no”. In fact, he’s taken more time off than I have! And the concern about the fact that I’d have given him the time off if I didn’t know what it was for is exactly why I’m willing to give him the option of making the time up on a weekend (or even working late a few weeknights, if he’d rather).
Oh, and I’m glad that, so far, I’m not a horrible bitch…
I don’t think that the fact that he’s in jail should have any bearing on whether you pay him for the time off or not. It shouldn’t be treated any differently than if he’d requested time off for this, that, or the other thing.
It’s not that I don’t think drunk driving is horrid, as it most definitely is, but that I don’t think, as an employer, it’s your place to punish him for something he’s done on his personal time.
I would definitely take this as an opportunity to implement a formal time off policy, however. Allocate a certain amount of time for vacations and sick leave and then let him spend them as he will.
Maybe you should change it from jail term to some other reason for missing two days of work and ask yourself what you would do. I’m trying to think of something that isn’t too ridiculous.
Suppose he was arrested during a protest with which you didn’t agree and missed two days of work. Would you dock his pay?
Or suppose he was jailed for failure to pay child support or contempt of court? Do you still dock him?
If there is nothing pressing, might it be acceptable to warn him that missing work for jail won’t be tolerated? If there is work that needs to be done, but can wait for the weekend, ask him to work the weekend.
If a deadline is going to be missed because of his incarceration, then docking his pay or firing him would be reasonable.
Whatever you do, remember that you are setting precedent. You can treat this employee (with whatever relationship you have established) any way you want, but if you stay in business long enough for this to occur with a different employee (with whom you have a different relationship), you will be expected to handle the next case in the same way.
Amberlei, I do fully intend to establish a formal, written leave policy which will make it clear that jail time for ANY REASON is not a reason for paid leave. Actually, I should have done that when he got his first DUI, but I never thought he’d get another one. I suppose that it does smack of being punitive to dock him or make him make up the time. Somehow having him make up the time instead of docking him doesn’t seem so bad.
I think you are being reasonable but I don’t understand this comment:
I fail to see how being a paralegal, he should be required to have a license to work for you. If you are questioning his ability to get to work he can always apply for a “workers permit” whereas he can drive ONLY to and from work during certain hours. There are also bus lines and taxi’s.
In Florida they automatically get their license suspended for 6 months to a year along with hefty fines, community service, tickets to pay, probation and courses to take.
This is his second DUI? This is serious business. He is lucky he didn’t kill someone. I changed my mind. Dock his pay!
I think it’s perfectly OK to dock pay or give him the opportunity to make it up.
I also think that not only should you have a formal leave policy, you should provide your employees with AT LEAST two weeks paid vacation. I’ve never heard of an employer who gives paid leave on an ad hoc basis. Seems to me you’d be getting a lot of “grandmother’s funerals” that way…
And if his job doesn’t require a driver’s license, firing him for losing his isn’t appropriate and maybe not even legal if it’s not codified.
I would dock the pay, and NOT allow him to make it up (actually, I’d fire him, but that wasn’t one of the choices). While the judge imposes the legal sentence, you, as his employer, reserve the right to use your own performance management measures in regards to what you expect from him at work. I don’t think that occasional time off for jail was part of the deal when you hired him, was it?
Actually, where I work now, its kinda of a “Hey, I need tomorrow off” environment. I actually take fewer days off now then I did when I worked for “Mega-structured Corp of America” where you had a certain number of vacation and paid days off, as well as sick time.
But then again, I like this job more. I can’t surf the web all day at home, and post to the SDMB!
As for our drinky friend in the OP, I say dock him, then fire him. The bottle is a harsh mistress, indeed.
“Being drunk is the best feeling in my poor world.”-- Uncle Gabby
I would suggest setting up an interim formal leave policy immediately, and finalizing it as you have time. I would suggest a leave policy that basically says:
You get X number of hours off per year, prorated, as vacation time. You must ask for vacation time at least two weeks in advance, and all vacation time is subject ot approval by your supervisor.
And enforce it. If he asks for two days off of the job, whether it’s to go take care of his dying mother or to go spend a couple days drinking himself silly and getting thrown in jail, that’s his business and not yours.
Whehter having a DUI on the payroll reflects poorly on a law office is another matter entirely, and not one I feel remotely qualified to have an opinion on.