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Confronting employee

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I have been advised by an employee that I have an employee drinking on the job and I am not for sure what to do about it since it was observed by a fellow co-worker and not a supervisor.

It appears that one employee (we will call him Aaron) has reported that another employee (Bob) is drinking on the job. You are right to proceed with caution. Confronting the employee is probably the worst thing that you could do in this situation. For one thing, Aaron might possibly be lying about Bob drinking on the job, simply because he does not like Bob.

If your company has a policy of random testing for drugs and alcohol, this is the time to use it. Test several emplyees (perhaps including the one who reported the drinking, Aaron) just to be on the safe side. If Bobs test comes back positive for alcohol, you have cause to fire him. However, if you have no drug testing policy in place, you cannot use this solution. (Be aware that in some states random drug testing at work is illegal.)

You can certainly sit down with Bob and calmly explain that someone thinks they saw him drinking. A few employees will readily admit that they had a beer with lunch. Or they will say they didn\\\’t drink that much, and it shouldn\\\’t interfere with their performance. In that case, you usually have the option of firing the employee. At other times, such a conversation may put an end to the drinking.

If a supervisor or two employees saw Bob consuming alcohol, you would have grounds to fire him. Most employers have rules against the possession of alcohol at work, so if you can demonstrate that the employee has alcohol in his desk or locker, that would be grounds for dismissal.

If you cannot verify the alcohol use, it may be easier to address any underlying performance problems. Typically when employees drink at work, their performance suffers in some way. They may be taking too many breaks, not returning from lunch on time or just not getting the work done. It is often easier to address these problems with disciplinary procedures leading to termination, rather than the drinking.

In most states, the employment at will doctrine permits employers to fire any worker, at any time, even without a reason. This might be a good time to invoke that policy and let this worker go, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”just because.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”