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EMPLOYEE FOUND SLEEPING ON THE JOB
July 2010
EMPLOYEE FOUND SLEEPING ON THE JOB
One of our subscribers recently found an employee asleep in the toilets when he should have been working. They want to bring disciplinary action, but the member of staff says he was feeling unwell. How should they play it?
Missing in action
Employers are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of their employees. As such, you need to know where they are at all times. For example if they leave your premises at lunchtime, they should let someone know they are going off-site.
Reasonable. This is not to spy on them, but if there’s an emergency, such as a fire alarm, they will need to be accounted for. So when a subscriber recently had an employee go missing, and nobody knew where he was, they conducted a search.
Caught in the act
It turned out that, as it was quiet, this individual had decided to sneak off to the “gents” and take a nap. As employees don’t come to work to rest, our subscriber wants to discipline this employee. However, he now claiming that he needed some “peace and quiet” as he was not feeling too good and, as a result, he dozed off.
Is it genuine ?
So the dilemma for our subscribers is should they give this employee the benefit of the doubt, or does his behaviour warrant disciplinary action? Our advice is that before they do anything they should invite the employee to an investigatory meeting to discuss the matter. This is not disciplinary action in itself, but it will allow them to establish if it’s justified.
At the bottom of it. So what type of questions should they ask the employee, and is there any other evidence that they should consider when dealing with this situation?
Line of questioning.
There are a number of questions that our subscriber should ask. The first is: “Why did you not inform your manager that you were feeling unwell?” Regardless of his answer, he should not have wandered off without letting someone know/ / this could have been more serious, e.g. he might have collapsed and needed first aid.
Secondly. A further question should be: “Do you think anything has led to you feeling unwell?” The answer should reveal if he has brought it on himself, e.g. come in with a hangover.
Any medical evidence?
If the answer to this is no, they can enquire if he has a medical condition they don’t know about. For example, if he’s diabetic, he may need to rest more. This question is justified as our subscriber also has to think about the safety of other employees who may be at risk by him going AWOL.
What type of action?
If his actions were unjustified, i.e. he was trying to take advantage of his quiet workload, then our subscriber can then make him a subject of formal disciplinary action, and they will have all the evidence they need.
Tip. Even if the employee does have a justifiable reason, e.g. a medical condition, a verbal warning may still be sensible so that he does not put himself (or others) at risk again.
Source: Tips & Advice Personnel May 27 2010
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