I never understood the no call/no show mentality. If I did that even once I’d assume my job was history. Seriously, how does someone justify not even calling work to let them know you won’t be in? People at my work would assume I’m dead and probably call the cops if they couldn’t reach me at home.
That is a really good article about exceptions to employment at will. However, in looking it over, they seem very far removed from the situation in the OP. Public policy exception? I can’t see any resemblance. Implied contract? Not unless the OP has really weird language in the offer letter. And good faith and fair dealing? The examples for where that prevailed involved an employee w/ 18 years of service, and another who was approaching eligibility for a retirement pension. Those employees probably had years of at least satisfactory performance appraisals in their files. A 5-month employee with an erratic performance history–different ball of wax entirely.
While it is true that even suits that have no merit can be costly in time or money to defend, if you never act b/c anyone can sue, that is even more costly. You set yourself up to accept poor performance & misconduct.
My HR-person, not a lawyer, advice is document what you have, let her go with dignity, don’t contest her unemployment, and be done with it.
And on the drug testing tangent… if it makes sense for your business to have a drug testing policy, have one. You might need one to fulfill certain government contracts, or for safety reasons, or maybe you can build a business case based on absenteeism and medical costs or whatever. Putting a drug testing policy in place to do a witchhunt for one employee is a bad idea on many levels.
My opinion is that there’s no point in approaching the drug test angle at this point. Focus on the behavior.
Implement a performance improvement plan. Write down exactly what she has been doing (using objective words – rather than saying “looked angry”, say “crossed her arms and used a hostile tone of voice”), write how this is unacceptable, and how she needs to act in future. Also detail every time she has been late or absent. Include that she receives (however many) breaks/lunch, and how many minutes. Inform her she will have no time off, barring federally required medical leave, for 60 days. Inform her that any violation of this plan within 60 days can be grounds for future discipline, up to and including separation, and that future violations may also lead to such discipline without further warning.
If it happens again, but is a minor violation, you might want to give her a written reminder of the plan, but in most cases I would just fire them immediately.
Remember – if you didn’t document a conversation, warning, or discipline, in legal terms it did not happen.
A single no-call no show would have gotten her fired by me.
Why on earth put up with that?
Eh, accidents happen. The car once broke down when I was on my way to work, and I only had a four or five hour shift that day. We didn’t have a cell phone at that time, and by the time my mother had walked down to the gas station and back, an hour had gone by already. Then when the tow-truck came, I was already hot, sweaty and dirty from sitting by the road beside an un-air conditioned car on a super hot day, and my shift was half over. I would have had to go home and take a shower to be presentable, and I would only have been able to work ten minutes. So I finally got home and called and told them what happened.
And as it turns out, they didn’t even notice that I hadn’t shown up. :dubious:
Guinastasia, that is not what is meant by no-call/ no show. You called as soon as your emergency situation reasonably allowed you to. You did the right thing. It’s when there’s no emergency situation, or maybe a 1-hour emergency turns into a day-long mystery absence, that employers generally throw the book at you.
Thanx for all of the input on my OP, really appreciate it. Here is what happened since I last recall posting. I was going to write up a little quick pile of policies on Sunday, that didn’t happen since it was the first day I took off in a month and slept 90% of the day. Monday morning comes, this employee (TG) all smiles, working hard, asking questions, just like day one. Tuesday, same thing.
Wednesday(today) same thing, until about noon. I went down the street to grab some smokes and a burger. Came back 20 minutes later and she was gone, (went to grab a bite, no problem), so after half an hour(getting past the point of acceptable on the clock getting food) I went to check the timeclock, no punchout. Shows up an hour after I got back (I know she left as soon as I did by what was done). I get “I punched out for lunch, didn’t anyone tell you”?
“No, but you did say you punched out at least, are you sure?”.
“yeah and I just punched back in”,
hmm “should I go check the timeclock AGAIN?”
“if you want”
Oh I do WANT, check again no punch in or out, print out the time, punch her card in and out, shows up instantly, print that one out, show her that, yes the clock is working, yes your card works. Then I get the hands on the hips spitting venom look and a “did you punch out when you went to get lunch!?!?!?!?!”
Hmmm, lets see, I’ve never made you punch out when going to grab a QUICK bite, I’ve never made you punch out when you had an appointment, I’ve never made you punch out when you had to go pick up one of your demon seeds when they got sent home from school, I’ve never made you punch out when you need to go pay the electric bill, what are you bitching about, I made it clear to not take advantage of this informal(I know, I know, informal) policy.
Besides, I’m the boss, believe me, I don’t get off on this, I enjoy it because I think I’ve been pretty good at it. And from what I’ve learned dealing with irrational 16 year olds back in the day, never argue with them, there is no point, especially on their part because I’m the boss, I win. I’m not being arrogant, but my boss, he wins, its just the way it is. If she wanted to talk about it like an adult, totally totally different story.
Anyways after the question of weather/wheather I punched out(how does she know I’m not on salary??) and the instigation of an arguement, I simply said
“I’m not impressed with your mouth, you can go home now”.
Blew the wind right out of her sails, she was all tuned up for a big ol’ fight after getting caught in a lie, stunned look, grab her bag and a big old “F*** YOU” along with kicking cabinets on the way out.
The papers will be ready in the morning for a 2 day suspension, it will give me time to write up formal policies and schedules, if she shows back up. Otherwise I do believe that a no call/no show will be documented as a voluntary termination.
As far as some people recommended drug testing, we’re small, and dont’ have the time or the money for that. If somebody wants to smoke a joint after work, I really don’t care, I used to do it. At work, no, not on my time. As far as the harder drugs, pain pills(abuse), and severe alcohol abuse, it shows up in their attitude and their work pretty quick.
Thanx for the input, I’ll let you know what happens.
She was primed for a FIGHT?!? At WORK? And lying to you? Are you positive she’s not 15 years old? Good grief, this is so unacceptable on so many levels. Your response was excellent, Bubba. You’re absolutely right that you don’t need to argue with her - you are the boss, your request for her to punch in and out for lunch was completely reasonable, and she badly needs to tune herself up. Not for you, because you need to fire her more than ever, but for her life in general, if she wants to support her children properly.
Can I work at your company?
There was discussion of this in a previous thread and it kinda went into a NIMBY thing, its ok as long as it isn’t your bank teller, your auto mechanic, almost everyone would be worried if an employee they dealt with for almost anything was intoxicated or craving a fix of anything much stronger than a cigarette while working with them.
IT professionals…oh no biggie, not like they could screw up anything like bank accounts, federal income tax records, your next paycheck, your insurance records, almost anything you might need generally stored in a computer. Who cares if someone unplugs the wrong router and thousands of VISA ATM transactions timeout…not like you have to feed your kids or put gas in your car to get to work.
Random cubicle dwelling dweeb like the guy processing your checks and shorts you $1000 on a typo and bounces 9 checks trashing your credit for years.
Home depot board schleppers like the one that dropped a drill press on Astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien? That particular board schlepper turned up positive for marijuana IIRC.
Well, any of the examples you mentioned should be fired if that happens/happened. What I don’t see is any real science saying that any person with any amount of drug use is a OMG!!!1111 danger to society. If they can devise a test that can detect level of impairment right now, and if they can prove that someone who smoked a joint on the weekend is unfit to do their job during the week, I’m saying it’s over-controlling. For instance, a person could be an out-and-out crackhead or junkie and pass a drug test within 24-48 hours. If somebody smokes one joint on a Saturday night, they could fail a drug test up to a month later. The drug testing we currently rely on does not accurately reflect impairment; it shouldn’t be relied upon until it does, IMHO. That whole punishing 99% of the workforce because of 1% being losers thing is just idiotic.
Good points, but this doesn’t mean much to me. Are we talking about him being high as he dropped the drill press, or he had smoked a joint within the last year? I would be surprised at just about anybody turning up NEGATIVE for marijuana if we’re talking about a longer-term test. Imagine testing people for alcohol - how many would pass that, if it was positive if you’d had a drink in the last month? Heck, I don’t drink, and even I would fail it (1/4 glass of wine occasionally - like three times a year).
Okay, suspension is over - now end OUR suspense, bubba! Did you toast her unreliable ass?
Agreed. Make sure that you have at least one counseling session with her where you document the shortcomings, explain the consequences for continuation, etc. and make sure she signs the document. If she refuses, fire her on the spot and document the fact that she refused to sign the counseling letter.
There are devices, I do believe they were discussed on here, they test the reflexes of your eye and detect fatigue, drunkeness(that can’t be real word), and general chemical impairment. Some of them were tied into the time clock and you had to have your eyes scanned when punching in(compared to a baseline for each individual) and if you were tired or waking up, you could read the same as if you were drunk.
Anyways, what happened is I went to see the owner, and said “I need to get rid of somebody” and he says " FIRE 'em" then I told him who it was, remember the friend way back in the beginning here, while that friend has a little bit to do with our business, in no way affiliated with us but can make life difficult. So what happened is she got a transfer to another department, along with a hefty stack of documentation in her file. Works for me, out of my hair and into someone elses hands. Now I’ve gotten back to doing my job, instead of babysitting, its funny how productivity can go up with less people.