I just got a written verbal warning (which makes no sense, but yes, if you get a verbal warning they give you written documentation of it) for violating the company’s drug and alcohol zero tolerance policy. My offense? A full, unopened, sealed bottle of vodka on the floor of the back seat of my car. I bought it last night to take to a friend’s house this evening and left it in the car both so as not to forget it and to chill it. Someone walking past my car spotted it and reported it.
The written policy is that it’s a violation of company policy to possess alcohol in the building. Someone has apparently decided that “building” means “parking lot” and “possess” means “locked in a car.”
So now I have a verbal warning. If I’m found in “possession” of alcohol again I could be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. I’m also now subject to random drug and alcohol screenings for the next six months.
And, correct me if I’m wrong, but you answer phones for a living, right? You’re not, say, a jet pilot, or a cardiac surgeon, or anything like that?
That’s extremely fucked. Is there any way to appeal it? Failing that, is there anyway to find out who reported you and beat them savagely with a tire iron?
Do you plan to protest/contest the warning? I would think that if you took this far enough up the ladder, it would reach someone who possessed the common sense to laugh out loud.
I don’t know yet. The warning came from HR. My supervisor is out of the office today. He’s pretty much useless but since he’s my immediate boss I want to talk to him.
I would seriously contest that if your policy says “in the building”. Sometimes, they have the “on the premises” language which could include the parking lot. In any case, I’d not let this go quietly.
Also, whichever douchebag reported you is to be shunned and ostracized.
I have had the misfortune of working at jobs that would do this- thankfully I’m at one now where the VP brought rum drenched egg nog for all to drink at work over the holidays.
If I am caught bringing any booze (opened, unopened, or empty) onto Lab property, I’d have to take a drug test, breath test, “fit for work” test, report it to both the security and health groups, and enroll in AA. In the words of my former supervisor, “you won’t get fired, but you’ll wish you did!” Sounds like you got off easy.
And if the policy as written said “property” or “premises” then, while I would still find it rather fucked up that a sealed bottle locked in a car would trigger it, at least there would be some actual basis. The policy as written says “in the building.” Frankly I was a bit surprised that it didn’t say “on the premises” or something similar, but it didn’t. I did not violate the policy as written.
So, if you were dealing with a logical entity, that would be the end of it. I had a similar experience once, and proved with impeccable logic that I hadn’t violated any written rule or policy. I was told that it was an “unwritten policy” that I’d never been told about. I asked for a list of all the other unwritten policies, but never got one.
Silly question, but is there any chance that this is a ‘verbal warning’ because if they put anything like this in writing, they’d get their corporate assets sued off?
I’d nod my head and ask them to send me an email about this and that you’d respond to it in kind. On reciept, fwd that email to your home PC. I’m not a labor attorney & you probably should consult one. Still, by definition, your parked and locked car isn’t their property.
Well, they did put it in writing. So it’s a step above a regular verbal warning, if I’m reading it right.
I don’t see this is a zero tolerance issue…If you broke the policy you broke the policy and I don’t have a problem with you getting a warning. However, it doesn’t seem to me that you broke the policy in the least, so I don’t know what they hell they’re thinking.