A Sticky Situation

WoodButcher

I've got a bit of a problem. Hired a fellow 3 weeks ago. During this three weeks, he has: been absent a total of 6 days, and missed his pre-employment physical appointment twice before finally completing the physical. The clinic called and notified us after the physical that although he was fit to work, they had discovered some unspecified "problems" during the physical, and he needed to contact them to arrange some additional testing. Ee has since voluntarily disclosed to me that they found blood in his urine, and are testing him for kidney cancer.

Ee has produced only one doctor's excuse for an x-ray appointment, all other absences have been the call in and leave a message that he's sick sort of thing. He has in addition already had some minor clashes with some of my other employees, and has already been tardy 3 times.

My instinct tells me two things: one, that this is a classic "bad hire", and I should terminate him ASAP, and two, that due to HIPAA, FMLA, and other regs, I'm standing in the middle of a minefield.

For what it's worth, I'm in GA.

I'm open to suggestions...

Don D

FMLA is not an issue. He is not eligible for FMLA. Depending on your attendance policy, you might consider termination. If you continue with him as an employee, this is a definite sign of things to come.

WoodButcher

Thank you one and all for the quick responses. My guy failed to show up again this morning, so we've pulled his timecard - terminated for excessive absenteeism. I'm glad I found this forum - I'm not an HR guy at all - just a small factory owner trying to figure out how to make a product without having any employees. Any ideas?

ray a

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-22-04 AT 11:46AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Per our attendance and Probationary ee policies, I would terminate in this situation. In fact I just did that last week with an ee who had missed 35.5 hours in the first 3 weeks.

mksmith

I'm in the HR department for a local government agency in CA. We normally advise managers that any situation that isn't great during probation will only get worse once an employee passes probation. It may sound hard - but I'd release this employee now. Good Luck.

Hunter1

What's a fellow woodbutcher doing on an HR site? I agree with the others. He's a bad hire, and during your trial period he's already shown himself to be so. Would you keep him if he didn't have a possible medical problem? Then don't keep him because he does (or possibly does).

WoodButcher

What am I doing on an HR site? Well, I'm told it is now considered bad form to hang the carcasses of terminated ee's outside the castle walls, so I'm trying to learn how to get in touch with my softer side . Seriously, I just have gotten to the point where HR matters & employment law matters have gotten too complex, and I've had a belly full of "labor law" specialist lawyers who cost big $$, but don't really know the answer.

I've been lurking (observing) for a while, and it seems this crew has a pretty good handle on things HR, so I'm taking the plunge.

E Wart

It sounded as if he missed his post employment physical "after he started to work"?? I would have put him on notice the first time he missed it that if it was missed again, the hire was off. This is a sign.
I don't know what your policy is. (Do you allow the person to bring in notes and it be excused or just call in or what? Also, has he followed policy as far as calling in to the right person , bringing in excuses, etc. I would not bring up any of the info that you might have had shared as to his medical condition and handle it as an attendance problem, as you would anyone who doesn't meet your standards. It almost sounds as if it is a self termination if he didn't call and didn't show up or it is an attendance problem. Has he been warned? Treat them as you would any new hire.
E Wart

Balloonman

You said you recently someone else who missed an excessive amount in the first three weeks. BE CONSISTENT terminate him today for attendance. For that reason alone. No need to have any other discussion.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

WoodButcher

Consistent, indeed! He'd already be gone, but for my concern that his alleged medical probs would put him into a protected class. Since he's produced only ONE vague doctor's excuse to cover 8 hours out of over 60 of absences, I've concluded that all the rest is just another sad-a** lame story, and nothing more. He has already been terminated. Thanks for your input, Balloonman!

JM in ATL

Chiming in late but wanted to say..

Welcome to the board! It's nice to have locals around. x:D

Glad you took care of the situation and fired this guy. Maybe in your next interview you can talk a little bit about attendance. x;-)

Hope we get to see more of you... and maybe we can convince you to hire a HR generalist to help you out with your employment law and employee issues. x:D