Clarify- I would report to MY supervisor. Go up the chain of command. I’d probably also take the person aside and tell him you smell alcohol after the breaks and you think it’s a problem. My sibling is an alcoholic. I wish someone had called him out on it at work
Many of us say MYOB because the OP hasn’t indicated that the individual acts impaired in any way, shape, or form, simply that they resent his hiring and they think he smells like alcohol for a few minutes after his cigarette breaks.
If the guy was impaired, absolutely say something. But that is apparently not the case.
My feeling is that they should follow the course of action suggested by doschicos in #54.
I am so far taking a MYOB stance regarding the 31 y/o who works for a different team but sits behind me. She complains and swears all day long. Yesterday she was on the $)(& phone with her €>#% dad berating him for not ;:?@ granting her full access to |<#} Verizon account so she could order a :;/) new phone. I wanted to tell her to grow up and get off daddy’s phone plan if he was so unreasonable. Kept my mouth shut
Seems to me that your boss would be the person to start with as you suspect he might already be aware of the problem. So really you would be “discussing” it with him and letting him know you and other employees have noticed and are concerned. If you go above his head he may view it as a political move on your part to interfere with the success of his new hire. Put the ball in his court – employee issues within the department should be one of his responsibilities.
If he chooses to protect his new hire and the problem continues, then rethink your approach.
“If the workplace is aware that the employee is drinking while on the job, and sends him merrily on to the highway, the employer will be brought into any case resulting from an accident.”
Welllll, I don’t agree with this. Maybe if someone in a management role becomes aware that an employee is drinking during work hours and does nothing about it, then yes, maybe. But a coworker who has a suspicion about it, then I say that no, the employer is not liable. In this instance, I don’t see that someone in a management capacity “knew or should have known” such that the company would be held liable for this guy getting in a wreck on his way home from work. (Let me add: being off the “clock” - whether salaried or hourly-based adds another level of complexity.)
Can you ask the employee if he is drinking? Do I smell alcohol from you? Shouldn’t that be the first step before going up the chain? I don’t like that people are talking behind the back.
Well, suzy. You are wrong. The employer will be brought into the case based on what was clearly obvious. They will settle for $$$$.
Well, maybe we need to agree to disagree, MomofWildChild. I’m a lawyer with experience in this area. I know you also have experience in this area, so I’m not discounting that. So perhaps we can agree to disagree.
ETA: Let me expand on my comment: if this company does not have a policy prohibiting drinking alcohol during working hours, and there were no productivity issues, then I think any adverse action taken against this employee would be problematic.
Also, I get that there is an “at will employment” issue which gets us into the weeds (and then there is Cali law to consider, no idea if this person is in California), so I won’t take us there but I recognize that’s an issue.
Personally if it were me I would have to be pretty darn sure before taking it to anyone. In a corporation just the mention of something like this could adversely affect a person professionally – negative news tends to spread quickly.
While It appears your co-workers comments support your conclusion perhaps the approach suggested by Igloo in #65 would be something to consider.
I was recently at a new hire training for few days. There was a 20 something who drank so much that he showed up for the training class 2 hours late and pretty much missed most of training for the next few days. I thought about saying something to him or saying something to his manager, but I decided not to because there was only down side for me.
Few years ago, I found out few of my directs were lying about their relationship status in order to get benefits for their BF/GF. At that time my company covered employees’ SO without being domestic partners. I talked to them individually and I also spoke to HR about it, but asked HR to not to terminate them for their first offense. They all stayed on because HR couldn’t quite prove their BF/GF were not SOs. On the other hand, those few employees retaliated against me by making up stories about me. Guess who had to leave and who got to stay?
Unless you have absolute proof the employee is drinking, it is best not to get involved. It is not your job to be a police for your company. If it is so important for your company to have alcohol free environment then have them implement some sort of process to test their employees.
I’m amazed at the number of people who say to MYOB. It’s obviously serious and real, since it’s so noticeable. I’d talk to the HR person.
OP, are you still with us?
Yes, I am still reading.
At this point, I am thinking I will meet with HR, and ask why it is that alcohol is not covered in the handbook under the drug free workplace policy.
I will express my concern that this leaves the company vulnerable to liability claims, should anyone be drinking during the workday and have an accident or other alcohol related incident.
If she asks me why I ask, I will say that I have observed some evidence of drinking on the job, which I find to be of concern.
Something along those lines…
You haven’t observed evidence of drinking on the job. You’ve noticed a smell that could be attributed to any number of things people use to mask the smell of cigarettes – mouthwash, breath mints, air freshener – and you’re making the assumption that your coworker has an alcohol problem. And you’re discussing that with other people on the job.
You’ve already said you don’t really care for this person. If I were you, before I said another word I’d make sure I wasn’t setting myself up to be on the wrong end of a slander lawsuit. You can’t drag someone’s professional name through the mud with zero consequences.
Yes, I have observed some evidence of drinking on the job.
Note that I will only mention this if asked, and, even then, not say what the evidence was or who it was.
Since there is no policy against alcohol, I am not reporting anyone. As an employee, I would be expressing my concern, just like other people might express concern about noise, perfume smells, or any other office behavior.
Some alcoholics are known to consume mouthwash due to its alcohol content.
Alcoholics may hide their drinking. They put vodka in water bottles. They go to their car or the bathroom for a shot. I serve on a colleague assistance committee for a state professional organization. There is the peer support and EAP confidential treatment side, and there’s is the mandated treatment/disciplinary side. Most of these professionals, if they address their issues prefer to use the former rather than find themselves on the latter side.
IMO, if you smell alcohol on this coworker after he/she takes breaks, it is a valid concern and is your observation. If it seems to interfere with their work, that is a greater concern. Tell HR your concerns and let them do their job. Even if they aren’t good at it. It’s their job.
Thank you @jym626 for your comments.
I recognize it is not my place to assess whether or not this person’s work is subpar or to comment on that.
You are welcome, @fendrock. Agree that it is the responsibility of whoever is this person’s supervisor to assess if their work is satisfactory, unless it’s clearly affecting your performance ( e.g. Their calculations are wrong and you have to correct them, they have to provide information to you in order for you to do your job, and they are consistently late, incomplete or erroneous.)
Ironically, the committee I serve on that meets quarterly, met yesterday. I serve as a MH professional on this committee. I am not a member of this profession. Most, if not all of the other members that serve on this committee, who are members of this profession, are pretty open that they have had direct, personal experience with MH or substance abuse. I have not. I have experience from the provision of treatment side. They address the issues from the personal and professional side, and helping colleagues, their coworkers nad families. They turn to me for assistance from the clinical/treatment side. We happened to be discussing the process of intervening with a fellow professional colleague who seems to be demonstrating a problem with drugs or alcohol. They discussed the role of what they call a “welfare call”. Perhaps this is an option for HR or management to explore. Good luck.
Several years ago, I had a colleague who was, at first, a charming, pleasant and extremely competent person. He developed some health problems and took prednisone, which can affect personality. He picked a fight with his friend of 20 years (they knew each other before coming to my company) and they never spoke again. One day, he screamed at a client, who complained to a higher-up he knew in another department. That person spoke to my boss. When the man was called in by our boss, he began screaming at her and threatened her to the point that he was escorted from the building. When HR went to clear out his office, they found enough liquor (including empties and half-full bottles) to stock a bar. Nobody had any idea. To this day, my work friends and I feel badly that we had no idea and weren’t able to help a very fine person as he descended into hell.
For the OP - I like your idea of asking why alcohol isn’t included, but I would take it one step more. I would type up (on my home computer) an anonymous suggestion and submit it that way. This is tso it can’t be traced to you. I am paranoid so I would probably wear gloves. Since you aren’t 100% sure that your colleague is drinking, I wouldn’t mention his name at this point. Perhaps you can follow him one day when he goes on a break - just be leaving the building at the same time. If he goes into a bar, you will have your answer.
If there is no official policy against drinking during business hours, maybe instituting one or getting HR to begin the steps to institute one could be a valuable contribution by the OP. But I stress that if there is a policy against it, there needs to be a high quality test available to address accusations of drug or alcohol abuse. The ramifications for these kinds of violations can be very severe, so there needs to be a mechanism in place to prevent employees from being wrongfully labeled and punished. Where I worked, any concern of impairment was immediately addressed by employee health, which was prepared to promptly screen employees using the best tools available to protect both the employer from libel/slander suits and to protect the employee from overzealous coworkers with good intentions or disgruntled coworkers with ill intentions.
One time I threw my back out bending over to draw blood from a patient. My boss could see how much pain I was in, so she sent me home via employee health, who promptly did a drug screen on me before I could leave. That was standard procedure in terms of worker’s comp issues as well as patient safety.