How to Deal with Intoxication in The Workplace
As an employer, it is your duty to deal with intoxication in the workplace You have a duty to provide a safe workplace for your employees and anyone else who interacts with them. This means that if your employee reports to work while drunk or under the influence of drugs you should deal with him or her accordingly.
What Should I Do?
The first thing you should do in such a situation is to relieve the employee his or her duties. If the employee is apparently under the influence of some kind of substances such as alcohol, marijuana or other drugs you should ensure that the employee does not continue working.
This is mainly because working under the influence of some substances can endanger the other employees. This can also because intoxication in the workplace can cause a lot of problems and many things can go wrong.
After relieving the employee his or her duty you should then take the employee into a private room. This is because such things need to be dealt with privately, away from the other employee and your clients. You should then inform the employee that you suspect that he or she is under the influence of some substance. If the employee admits it, then you have the right to terminate him or her. But you should establish the reason why the employee is intoxicated. This is because an employee might have used a substance that was described to be legal but causes someone to be intoxicated.
What If They Deny Intoxication in the Workplace?
In case the employee does not admit to being intoxicated you can subject him or her to a drug test. If you smell alcohol on his or her breath or smell the aroma of marijuana or see the employee has bloodshot eyes or see other signs of being intoxicated you should subject the employee to a drug test.
If the employee fails the drug test you also have reasons to terminate him or her. There are simple drug tests which can be done in workplaces without having to hire an expert. However, some drug tests need to be done by professionals, so that they can produce accurate results.
What If I Don’t Want to Fire Them?
Instead of terminating an employee you can also take the employee into a rehabilitation center. For this to happen the employee must agree that he or she has a drug problem. There are various programs that can deal with such issues, even while the employee is still working.
Some programs require that the employee should stop working for a certain period so you can be rehabilitated properly. If the employee is committed to the rehabilitation program, then the problem can be dealt with effectively. Therefore, through following the outlined guidelines you can effectively deal with intoxication in the workplace if it should occur.
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