Drunk on Duty

[Dorset Plodder]

A colleague in a nearby office has been accused of being Drunk Whilst on Duty. Basically had a skin full the night before and was still very much the worse for wear the following morning. It was apparently fairly obvious, no room for arguing the toss.

He's been suspended at present, and I believe RM are pushing for Gross Misconduct. Obviously a worrying time for him, has anyone any experience of this process in other Offices?

[london sub]

While its unacceptable for any form of employee to be drunk while at work he/she might need to seek help from a drink problem. If they could not peform the tasks within the job then the dom was probably right to suspend.

Not sure what the procedure is for this but a warning in my books and seek help would suffice. If it happened again, then they know where the door is.

[Lounge Lizard]

Were there any mitigating circumstances, like someone must have put something in his drink or his couple of pints must have clashed with medication he had just started taking ?

[dids620]

A colleague in a nearby office has been accused of being Drunk Whilst on Duty. Basically had a skin full the night before and was still very much the worse for wear the following morning. It was apparently fairly obvious, no room for arguing the toss.

He's been suspended at present, and I believe RM are pushing for Gross Misconduct. Obviously a worrying time for him, has anyone any experience of this process in other Offices?

Bloke in our DO came in drunk on a Saturday morning about 5 months ago. He was suspended for about 8 weeks with pay. When he came back he claimed back 2 weeks holiday he had missed and then got permission off our DOM and his boss to have a lift down to his walk as he was DUI and now banned from driving.

[postypie]

I remember some years ago there was a gentleman who worked in our office who was an alcoholic ...staff new it,he knew it..the managers ignored it mostly....many times this chap would come to work as drunk as a skunk...managers at the time would see him literally collapsing sometimes as he tried to throw his walk out...sometimes he was told to go home as he was that far gone...but many a time he was sent out drunk on deliveries by managers(especially when we were short on staff)..sadly this guy met his end a few years ago when he stepped off a bus (drunk) and fell..cracking his head against the pavement...perhaps managers at the time could and should have done more,but this happened some years ago like i said so i think gaffers are probably more clued up on these things nowadays..sad to see him go as he was a character and a nice chap when he was sober..

[krussel]

Last time this happened in my office was about 3 years ago when i Postie came in one sat morning still pissed. After throwing up in the gents for about 30 mins the dom sent him home. He got a warning and docked a days pay but that was it.

May be different if the postie had been a driver and attempted to sign out a van.

[postypie]

Last time this happened in my office was about 3 years ago when i Postie came in one sat morning still pissed. After throwing up in the gents for about 30 mins the dom sent him home. He got a warning and docked a days pay but that was it.

May be different if the postie had been a driver and attempted to sign out a van.

A bloke was sent home by the Dom recently due to having alcohol on his breath....

[mal]

Hopefully you can open these. RM have a duty of care to all their employees who suffer from Alcohol or Drug related illness and state within the Group Policy document that they will help anyone with a dependancy.

These documents detail how the guidelines are due to be applied.

[Stormproof]

Last person who was sent home drunk from my office was a LM We have a few come in a bit worse for wear but they never get sent home probably because we are constantly short staffed.

[happymackem]

our office would be half empty EVERY monday if the drunks got sent home and most of em drive a van to work

[Dorset Plodder]

Thanks for the input everyone, the downloads were very interesting Mal. The Postie in question does appear to have a long standing drink problem, so can't claim side effects of medication Lizard.

He's not a Driver so at least that's in his favour! The main concern is the new attitude of management. Years ago people used to get let off many misdemeanors, but nowadays Posties are being Conduct Coded for such things as No Helmets or Hi-Vis, failure to Deliver Households and Delaying the Mail. I'm not saying they shouldn't be ...... it's just that change in management attitude. Cynics would say it's an easy way to get rid of FT Posties cheaply.

I'm wondering how this new attitude is going to effect this type of problem. The Official Policies say a lot about helping and assisting people with drink/drug problems, I'm not sure how this will equate to the "Real World" of the workplace.

[Patrick Clifton]

We have a guy at my office that is known to have 'alcohol issues.'

He is a driver. It got to the point, so I heard, that a customer/s complained about his slurred speech. He is still with us tho & still driving.

[taurus88]

Happened in my office recently but the guy was back the next day. Don't think he even got a warning.

[CORTINA]

its the increased stress ..thats what it is........

A drink carms the body muscles.... a nice cup of tea works wonders...

[mazza111]

If the manager in our office had to suspend everyone who ever came in drunk there wouldn't be a lot there. I did it myself one day, on a Friday, had a skin full of ouzo the night before, the coffee I had when I got to work was enough to make me pissed again. Never drank ouzo since then!!!!

What's worrying though, is the amount of drivers who come in with drink on their breath. And I actually brought that up when the P&L was originally mentioned. They told us, if we suspected that someone had been drinking the night before, we had to grass them up basically. But how many of us would feel comfortable doing that to a colleague, the other choice would be getting into a van with him driving. It's a scary thought really.

So glad I got out when i did :)