Suspended on full pay due to be drunk at work

izzybusy23

Hi there

Ive just learnt my estranged husband was suspended from work a month ago due to turning up completely out of his tree drunk. I haven't had any child support off him this month and he has stopped making loan payments too; I now know the reason, but I was advised he was suspended on full pay.

I think this is gross misconduct and that he will actually lose his job; is this right? Also my source said the union say he cannot be sacked because although it was obvious he was drunk they cannot prove it etc. He was marched off the premises though and suspended pending investigations.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Emmzi

depends - is he an alcoholic and seeking help? his employer MAY support - long shot though.

If he isn't facing up to the problem I (as an HR person) would find one way or another to sack him asap. If he played the disability card my hands would be tied for a bit though.

Jinx

At the company I work for - if the investigation finds that 'on balance of probabilities' the employee was drunk/under the influence I would expect him or her to get either a final warning or the sack. If however, the person says that they have an alcohol problem and want to seek help, they would get the final warning and given support to try and stay at work and sober. Its not a court of law so they dont have quite the same proof needed however any company would want to be fairly sure as it could of course go to an employment tribunal. Suspensions are always as far as I know fully paid, innocent until proven guilty...

At a place of previous employment they actually had a nurse on site and the employee there would be taken immediately to be tested, no grey areas at all!

In my non expert opinion, im with you, its gross misconduct.

Tropez

Here is the government's guidelines for alcohol and work, hopefully they may be of some help to you - http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg240.htm

If you believe he has been suspended on full pay then you may wish to contact somebody regarding non-payment of child support.

C_Mababejive

I suspect he will get booted...

izzybusy23

Thank you.. ok, how about if he has been having an affair with a girl at work; she's now pregnant and long story short he wanted to come back to me but I said no when I found out she was pregnant, which then led to them having an almighty row and her phoning the HR department to say he had her up against the wall by her throat which in turn meant HR got involved and put them on seperate shifts.. so he already had a black mark against his name so to speak... so the latest drunk at work malarky could be just what they need to sack him?

Thanks again! Just trying to prepare myself for the worst and for months of money worries x

Edited to say, no not an alcoholic, but does like a drink but I think him turning up to work drunk is due to mega stress from his affair and his life going wrong plus the newly announced pregnancy has pushed him over the edge and he can't cope

ailuro2

At my workplace if someone was found drunk the only way they could NOT get the sack would be to admit they had a drink problem and ask for help with it.... same goes for drugs, or being involved in court actoin because of drug use.

Emmzi

irrespective of the merits of the case 2 incidents of acting like a nutter would force my hand to find any wee thing I could dismiss for, and actually, even if not totally legal, I might chance it. Life is too short to deal with that sort of rubbish. If a big company, he'd be gone. A wee company may not be able to take the financial hit.

Other HR advisors are available...

onlyroz

One incident and I would say that he would get away with it. Two or more and I think they would be looking for any excuse to boot him out, unless he had a justifiable reason (e.g. a diagnosed medical problem for which he was seeking treatment).

My contract says that I'm not allowed to be "intoxicated" at work - which is fairly vague (e.g. does it mean I can't have one drink at lunchtime?) but turning up blind drunk would put a black mark against my name for sure.

Jinx

If he was actually drunk or seriously under the influence - yep def booted out from the company I work with.

go_cat

Depends on many things
Does he work in an environment where Health and safety is paramount
Is this the first time
If not has there been any documented conversations about being under the influence
What his contract of employment says about being under the influence
What has happened to anyone else who has been drunk at work