Employee with felony charges - what should I say to staff?
sdillow
7 Posts
Greetings,
I'm in a new situation and looking for advice on communication to my staff. Over the weekend one of our employees was arrested on significant felony charges. The local news covered the story. Some but not all employees have heard. Following a domestic dispute with his spouse, the employee eluded the police and shot a gun at 5 police officers with the end result being - five counts of attempted capital murder, one count of attempted aggravated malicious wounding, one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling, six counts of the use of a firearm in commission of a felony, one count of felony eluding and one count of destruction of property. He was shot in the hand by a police officer, taken to the hospital, and will remain in custody as far as I know.
My question is this - what level of communication do I share with my staff? We are a small credit union of 56 employees in a small town atmosphere. We did follow regular process and conducted a background check, credit check, and professional references. No unfavorable information was found other than some credit issues. The man was a referral from another employee. However, our staff may not feel safe or they may question our hiring decision. The guy has worked here since October 2010.
What should I say? Just the basics that the guy obviously will no longer be working here? Or should I say more?
THANKS!
I'm in a new situation and looking for advice on communication to my staff. Over the weekend one of our employees was arrested on significant felony charges. The local news covered the story. Some but not all employees have heard. Following a domestic dispute with his spouse, the employee eluded the police and shot a gun at 5 police officers with the end result being - five counts of attempted capital murder, one count of attempted aggravated malicious wounding, one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling, six counts of the use of a firearm in commission of a felony, one count of felony eluding and one count of destruction of property. He was shot in the hand by a police officer, taken to the hospital, and will remain in custody as far as I know.
My question is this - what level of communication do I share with my staff? We are a small credit union of 56 employees in a small town atmosphere. We did follow regular process and conducted a background check, credit check, and professional references. No unfavorable information was found other than some credit issues. The man was a referral from another employee. However, our staff may not feel safe or they may question our hiring decision. The guy has worked here since October 2010.
What should I say? Just the basics that the guy obviously will no longer be working here? Or should I say more?
THANKS!
Comments
If you find employees are questioning your wisdom in hiring this person, then I would address the hire decision (by explaining you don't have a crystal ball), but not before. Just try to treat this situation as you would any other term. The more you make of it, the more the employees will make of it. Chances are they will be just as shocked as you are and assume you had no more reason to suspect him than they did.
If you find keeping to your normal procedure isn't working, please come back on here and tell us how and why it isn't. I think having details of why it isn't working will help us help you.
Good luck!
Nae
Employees can and will talk about the termination or the surrounding circumstances... but I don't give them anything to "interpret", or read too much into.
As far as what you're communicating to other employees regarding this employees status - keep it minimal, be sure to stay away from opinions and just state that he/she is no longer employed with the company. It's hard in small businesses in small towns but we must remember to be cautious that we are not slandering this employee.
Hope this helps!
Sure you can, unless your state has a specific law prohibiting it. (We don't.) Just like you [U]can[/U] ask someone's age in an interview, etc. Case law has only established that you can be held responsible if these actions result in disparate treatment/impact or give sufficient appearance of same - it does not explicitly prohibit the actions themselves.
Sorry to be contentious... I just think we sometimes extrapolate too much, too often when it comes to court decisions. That doesn't mean I think the employee in questions should have been fired for being arrested, by any means. It just means I don't think you should take it off the table without evaluating the specifics of the situation.
I'm in a new situation and looking for advice on communication to my staff. Over the weekend one of our employees was arrested on significant felony charges. The local news covered the story. Some but not all employees have heard. Following a domestic dispute with his spouse, the employee eluded the police and shot a gun at 5 police officers with the end result being - five counts of attempted capital murder, one count of attempted aggravated malicious wounding, one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling, six counts of the use of a firearm in commission of a felony, one count of felony eluding and one count of destruction of property. He was shot in the hand by a police officer, taken to the hospital, and will remain in custody as far as I know.
My question is this - what level of communication do I share with my staff? We are a small credit union of 56 employees in a small town atmosphere. We did follow regular process and conducted a background check, credit check, and professional references. No unfavorable information was found other than some credit issues. The man was a referral from another employee. However, our staff may not feel safe or they may question our hiring decision. The guy has worked here since October 2010.
What should I say? Just the basics that the guy obviously will no longer be working here? Or should I say more?
THANKS![/quote]
Keep it simple. If asked, simply state that you can't discuss one employee's personal matters with other employees.
As for his employment status, deal with the issue -- attendance. If he is, in fact, in custody, and not out on bail, then he can't come to work so follow your attendance policy so treat him as you would any other employee, including termination if appropriate.
Sharon