Suspended Employees

Tricia

I have an employee who was suspended two months ago because he was arrested on drug charges. We decided to suspend him until he either was convicted of a felony (which would lead to termination) or was cleared of the charges. How long should such employee be suspended before termination. And, if he hasn't tried to make any contact with the company, can we just say he voluntarily resigned from the company? Any thoughts on this one?

Gar

You should get an employment attorney to answer this one for you, especially if a union is involved. You do, however, have the advantage of doing business in North Carolina (employment at will state). When faced with a similar situation some years ago, we kept the employee's job open as long as we could. This was a large company with 1500+ employees. After a few weeks we reached the point where we had to back-fill the position. We notified the employee of this and that we would attempt to place him in a position of like pay/status that we felt he was qualified to perform - assuming he would be exonerated. He, however, was found guilty of the charges and our "committment" ended at that point. The fact that he did not initiate contact with us during his suspension was of no consequence because we suspended him and he did respond to contacts we made with him which included inquiries as to whether he was interested in continued employment with us. Again, consult with an attorney.