Describe your first actions to address Peter’s situation. Include your reasons.
If I was supposed to address Peter’s situation, I would pay increased attention to his personal data file and the feedback from his co-workers and chief. As it is reported by many people in the company, Peter is known as a skilled and knowledgeable specialist, who has been an active member of the trade union a few years ago. As for the present situation, he must have had an unpleasant experience that became one of the reasons for his alcohol addiction and poor performance. Considering this, I would try to persuade the chief to talk to Peter before starting the dismissal procedure in order to inform him about the consequences of his poor performance and truancy. If Peter did not demonstrate an intention to improve his performance, I would start preparing the necessary documents to terminate the contract.
Explain your longer-term strategy for addressing Peter’s situation. Include your reasons.
My longer-term strategy would also depend upon Peter’s reaction to the news and the final decision of his chief. In case if his chief denied any ideas concerning the possibility to influence Peter and urge him to improve his performance, my longer-term strategy would be quite typical. To be more precise, I would prepare all the documents to start the procedure just because I would be supposed to do that. They would include the documents confirming Peter’s absence at the workplace on certain dates, his contract, and documents explaining the reasons for his absence. If his chief agreed to give him the last chance to improve the situation, I would talk to him to explain all the requirements that have to be met. Furthermore, it would be necessary to inform him about the discontent of his colleagues and urge him to visit a psychologist and a drug therapist. I would do that because Peter is regarded as a good specialist and there could be a chance to help him.
Explain how you would handle the situation if Peter admitted he is an alcoholic. Include your reasons.
In the given case, there is no clear evidence of the fact that Peter has significant problems with alcohol. Nevertheless, some of his colleagues claim that he seems to be drunk almost every day. If the situation was different and Peter admitted that he had problems and he drank alcohol on a regular basis, I would consider it during taking further measures to fire him. There is a problem connected to the termination of contracts with alcoholic employees. Many associations regard them as disabled people, and this is why they cannot be fired just because they have problems and they may pose a threat to other employees. This is why it is important to prove that the employee has demonstrated poor performance and unwillingness to work properly.
Imagine that you now have to write a formal report to the management of Wilson Bros., outlining the legal issues involved and your recommendations for this and future cases. Would the recommendations change if Peter was a non-union employee? Explain.
Unfortunately, Wilson Bros. Company has to deal with frequent cases of absenteeism and poor performance. To improve the situation, I recommend introducing a stricter policy towards poor performance and unexcused absence and also punish those managers who fail to report the cases of truancy immediately. Dealing with Mr. Frost’s case, I had to perform hard work to address the situation because of his alcohol addiction. I also recommend being extremely conscious of collecting the evidence of union employees’ truancy as they seem to be more protected.