Employee arrested for child abuse

kudra

I have an employee who has been accused of molesting the 7-year old child of a co-worker. The accused molester, who denies the charges, has been arrested and is out on bail. The mother of the child refuses to work in the same office as the man.

Both employees are outside sales people who are required to enter clients' homes to sell new business and service existing accounts. This happened in a small Texas town where everyone knows all the details, and the company's clients don't want this man in their homes.

I am considering suspending the man without pay pending the outcome of these charges. Advice would be appreciated.

Don D

I think the suspension is in order, but should be WITH pay. Without pay sort of suggests the company already has a propensity toward guilty. Either this or assign the ee to a job temporarily that does not require client interraction and explain that the reasoning is based on client demands, not the company assuming guilt. Surely you have called an employment lawyer. Guilty or not, the company will be making a decision later as to how to keep or not keep this person in a client contact spot in a small Texas town where the company may suffer loss of the entire business if your call is wrong. My opinion is worth one-half the cost of a cup of coffee here. Your attorney will see signals of potential constructive discharge or defamation if you make the wrong move here.

Theresa Gegen TX

I don't necessarily think you have to suspend with pay. It could take a really long time to resolve (like 6 months or a year). In Texas a company can have lots of liability if he were to go into a home and assault a client. I think you must get him out of there immediately, and are doing the right thing.

If you want to pay him for a definate time (say up to 2 weeks or 1 month), that's probably okay. But if you suspend with pay without any cap, the company may get stuck paying him for a long long long time. (justice can move extremely slowly -- for example, the OJ trial -- the trial alone took a year).

These allegations are very serious, and I don't see how the company can continue him at work while they are pending.

Good Luck!

njjel

If I were in your shoes I would be placing a call to my labor attorney on this one! CYA as the saying goes.

tfevergrn

You can suspend pending the results of your investigation. If the employee comes up clean, then you pay him for the missed time. If he doesn't, then depending on your findings, you terminate without pay for the missed days or if your findings don't warrant termination you can deem the suspension disciplinary and not pay him for the time missed.

Mike Maslanka

njjel has a good point...lots of stuff on these boards,we can just talk about,and kick around ideas...on some stuff---this,and the TB question---to name just two,it is always better to get counsel...sometimes it helps to frame the issues and the questions,and not just to supply the answers...Theresa and I had a similar case for a client on the child abuse issue and the two or three hours we spent talking was worth it ,and the client made a more informed decision which,by definition,is a better decision...Regards,Mike