Handling a Confession

(Winter 2016) Real Life Incidents: Working Partners® Consortium members receive phone support and consultation about drug-free workplace (DFWP) issues — a benefit we term “troubleshooting.” Here is a brief description of a troubleshoot call and our response/suggestions.

Situation:

Several years ago, Working Partners® conducted an employee education session for a work crew stationed at a large construction project. Because the crew could not be off the job site long, the session was held at the job trailer on the actual job site. The trailer was divided into two sections. While the crew sat in the training, the job superintendent, “Mitch”, sat in his small office on the other side of the partition. (This company’s Program Administrator [P.A.] was attending the session, and we’re still not sure why he “excused” the superintendent from this mandatory session!)

Because the employees had heard a lot about the policy in previous years, the Working Partners® trainer spent a significant portion of the session discussing the disease of addiction – primarily alcoholism. The curriculum addressed the dynamics of alcoholism and ended with a list of early, middle and late stage symptoms of the disease. At the conclusion of the session, the trainer and P.A. were processing through some issues when they were approached by Mitch. Mitch had overheard the curriculum and self-disclosed that he heard some things that concerned him. He shared that he could identify with the stages of alcoholism and feared he “was one.”  Mitch was questioning whether or not he was an alcoholic.

The P.A.’s initial response was to convince Mitch that he did not have a problem …“Yeah, well all of us here probably drink more than we should now and then.” Mitch shrugged it off and walked away.

Response:

Mindful that this “confession” was significant (both to the health and well-being of the employee and potentially to the safety, productivity and liability of the company), the trainer pulled the P.A. into a confidential location to shine some light on this situation. The trainer first queried the P.A. about whether he had ever seen any workplace-related signs that Mitch had an alcohol problem. The P.A. shared that Mitch was a “respected” employee, but that he “did like his beer” and does come to work “now and again” with alcohol on his breath. There was no documentation of that behavior on file, and the P.A. really didn’t remember how the situations were handled. Because Mitch was a veteran employee, the PA was doubtful that a formal confrontation had ever occurred.

Other than those few situations, the company did not have any documentation on file that was indicative of alcohol-related problems on the job. After this initial history was established, the trainer and P.A. covered these four significant areas of concern – all of which needed to be weighed in light of this acute situation.

Safety – According to this company’s DFWP policy, Mitch is in a safety sensitive position. The majority of his time is spent on job sites, and he often is on scaffolds to inspect or do actual labor. He also drives a company truck and periodically a small piece of equipment. The trainer reminded the P.A. that while Mitch had not been seen stumbling or staggering, there could still be some impairment issues occurring. With a confession “on the books” and history of Mitch smelling of alcohol on the job, it could be a safety hazard to allow this employee to conduct safety sensitive work until there is an assurance that he is “OK” to do so.

Liability – If there is reason to be concerned about safety on a job, there is equal reason to be concerned about liability — especially since the company now has documentable, reasonable suspicion about Mitch (i.e., the confession and proceeding admission from the P.A. that on more than one occasion, the employee had come to work smelling of alcohol). If an accident were to happen on the job involving Mitch (or employees he was supervising, for that matter), the company could find themselves in a very awkward position. They had knowledge of a potential safety risk but no documentation to show they had tried to rectify the situation.

Public Image – If others in the company had smelled alcohol on Mitch’s breath in the past, what’s to say that the job owner or other contractors on the job didn’t smell it, too? Smelling alcohol on a workers’ breath is just not good business. It looks bad. It (understandably) can raise a caution flag about the integrity and professionalism of a company and their workforce.

Mitch – Lastly, though certainly just as significant, the P.A. needed to consider the company’s role in helping Mitch deal with his issue. Research shows that a person with an alcohol problem will die 12 years younger than someone without a problem. And a major obstacle to getting help is not knowing where to get it. The company had a golden opportunity in this situation to literally help save Mitch’s life. As the old adage goes, they needed to be ready to “strike while the iron was hot.” That P.A. should have been ready to pull a referral out of his pocket to give to Mitch.

At the conclusion of the conversation, the P.A. decided that it was in the company’s best interest to make a mandatory referral for an alcohol/drug assessment. He decided that the safety and liability risks were too large to ignore, and also saw the merit of trying to connect Mitch to assistance for his own health and well-being. Unfortunately, although this company’s DFWP policy spoke about “community resources” for help, no one had actually done their homework to put together a usable list.  The trainer offered some suggestions on where to begin looking, and the P.A. set out to find a counselor who was available to do the assessment and willing to communicate a fitness for duty report to the company.

Note: Several months after this incident occurred, Mitch was arrested for DUI (in his own personal time) and requested to be off work for several days to fulfill court and jail obligations. The P.A. called us for direction, admitting that while they did make a referral after Mitch’s confession, they never actually followed through.

When making action-decisions, always think comprehensively about the situation you are involved in and are creating by your actions.  Also, consider the what-if scenarios to aid in determining direction.  Most importantly, you could do what the employer with this situation did if you are part of our consortium:

Call Working Partners® Consortium at (614) 337-8200 or 866-354-3397.

As a member of Working Partners® Consortium, don’t forget your access to this troubleshooting service.  Be safe, not sorry!