Employee incarceration

Frenchie · April 2001

We recently had one of our employees incarcerated for 10 days(not work related), and realized that we didn't have a policy that addresses this. Can anyone share theirs?

Tricia · April 2001

The thing about employee incarcerations is, first was this for a felony? If it was for a felony, then this warrants immediate termination. If, however, it was for a misdemeanor offense, your saving grace is attendance. Do you have an attendance policy where if he is out of work for ten days he would be terminated? I do not feel that you as the employer should have to make concessions to an employee who winds up in jail.

Theresa Gegen TX · April 2001

The previous response was right about attendance. An incareration would not generally be considered as an excused absence. So ususally an employee missing 10 days work can be terminated. However, if the employee gets work release, what do you do? Do you have a policy about terminating and not hiring felons. If so, and the crime is a felony, and the person was convicted, go ahead and fire them in accordance with your policy.

Otherwise, you may have to get into the facts of the crime to determine if termination is warranted. If the crime was job related (not necessarily done on the job, but the facts relate to the job -- for example a driver getting a drunk driving ticket -- you can probably safely terminate the employee.)

But what if the employee was detained, then let go with no charges,etc. This is a more difficult situation. And you may want to seek legal advice.

Back to where we started, attendance is the path of least resistance.

Good Luck!

bspohrer · April 2001

Your employee's incarceration notwithstadning, is this person a good employee? Maybe instead of looking for reasons to terminate you should be looking for reasons to support and help this person.

Gar · April 2001

I agree with the last assessment. What's the employee's track record? How long has the employee been with the employer? Why is he/she in the slammer? Can the reason spill over into the work place (theft, rape, assault, drugs)? What have you done in similar situations?

Frenchie · April 2001

Thanks for your response. I'm not looking for a way to terminate this individual, however I do feel we need a policy that protects our interest and is fair to all associates.

Gar · April 2001

If you anticipate having a policy, I suggest that you don't put it in writing. These kinds of situations are rarely similar and you wouldn't want to lock yourself into a written policy because you will require the widest lattitude to administer each case. Just take a common sense approach in each case and do what is reasonable.

bspohrer · April 2001

A breath of fresh air .... a reasonable common sense approach ...... I don't remember seeing that course offered in business school.....

Gar · April 2001

Not business school but the one of hard knocks!

Employee incarceration

Comments