sick employees getting rides home ???

T

How do I say in my handbook that "if it is in the best interest of the company, the employee or other employees that a supervisor feels that an employee seems not physically able to do a job that supervisor can send said employee home".

I have had employees on prescription drugs that come to work almost under the influence. It looks as if they cannot hardly function. Can I send them home. And if I do send them home, am I responsible if something happens to them on their way home??

Or what about another employee getting sick on the job. Can another employee take them home? If it is an hourly employee taking sick employee home, that employee would have to clock out, so it would be on their own time? What if it is a salaried employee who volunteers to take sick employee home?


I would like to say that no other employee while at work cannot take another employee home or to the hospital?

Thanks.
-t

marc

I think you are drawing too hard a line on this issue. If you are sending the EE home (your decision) there is probably a higher duty to make sure of safe arrival, especially if you consider them unsafe to drive. If something happened, God forbid, and the EE or a third party were injured or worse, I think you would be on very shaky ground.

Also very important, is to consider the message you are sending to the EEs. Their well-being is far down your list of priorities.

I would pay for the hourly EE to take another EE home - it is worth it to me. You could send them in a cab, which I would also pay for.

Bottom line to me, you need to lighten up on this one. Just my opinion.

deniseE

We determined that the risk of an ee driving another ee home/hospital whatever is too high...we couldn't accept liability SHOULD anything happen...or should the sick ee, in his/her disoriented state do something to further hurt himself...we just didn't want to be responsible.

We have a fitness for duty policy..if it is determined that an employee is unfit to be at work..and also unfit to drive, we call a cab and pay the cab to take the ee home or to the hospital. In emergency situations, of course, we call EMS. If the ee refuses EMS assistance, we follow the cab procedure as well...we've had this come up with athmatics that need breathing treatments, but the EMS service would not be covered by health insurance...so they prefer to just go straight to the ER.

Dasher

I am with Marc on this one. We do not require policies for everything. I have had this situation occur a few times and it varies.

In one case the employee came to work and promptly fell asleep at his desk. After speaking with him, I felt he should not drive and had him call a family member to come for him. If family member is not available we pay for a cab and send them home or have another employee drive them in a company vehicle and at the company's expense. If, however, an employee comes to work ill, and tells the supervisor or me they have a tremendous headache, cold, etc., and want to leave for the day, I see no reason to make arrangements to transfer them home.

Look at the long range goal -- to assure a safe and viable workplace and to have employees that know the company considers their well-being -- and that will assist you in determining which way to go.

JudyT929

I agree with the others I don't think you need to state formally what you would do because each circumstance is different. I once cracked a bone in my foot at the office (laughing so hard I kicked my desk...) I couldn't drive because my car has a clutch and it was my left foot. An employee gave me a ride home and then he came right back to the office. If I'd of been married or had an SO or an adult child I would have had them pick me up. A year ago I was having a problem and an ambulance was called and took me to the ER, our COO was the one who called the ambulance and again since I didn't have a spouse or SO she rode in the ambulance with me and waited until my daughter arrived then went back to the office. We have very few non-exempt employees but we all have to take PTO when not in the office. If an employee took another employee home or to the hospital we would not expect them to report it as pto, obviously we'd expect them to return to the office in a timely manner or take PTO.

Don D

Unless your 'supervisors' are scattered around at various sites where you are not stationed, I feel a little queazie about a variety of supervisors making decisions to send people home for the reasons you stated in your question. How would you or anyone else determine that one is under the influence of a prescription drug?

If an employee reports being sick or says they don't feel like working, and your policy allows it, tell them they are free to leave.

If you decide, for some reason, to 'send them home', I would, as others said, evaluate each situation independent of others. A written policy will serve only to strap you down. "T", we can't be everybody's momma. We can't decide when people are sick or ought to be sent home, typically. I imagine this would be a rare situation.

Someone suggested company liability for someone driving an employee home. Not so, in this state. In case of an accident the employee's auto insurance pays first. As Marc said, I certainly would not make somebody clock-out to perform that function.