Can a private employer discipline an hourly paid supervisor for off
duty conduct of hourly employees? After work party off duty, near but
not at the office. One individual in company attire but the rest not.
Off duty Supervisor being told that he was responsible for the
situation even though all are off duty and hourly employees. These
are not sworn military/public law enforcement/fire/rescue |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
12 Jun 2004 16:24 PDT
smbreeden-ga,
Employers generally have very broad legal authority to discipline or
fire their employees as they see fit, for matters occuring at the work
place or even after hours. For instance, an employer was upheld in
court not that long ago for firing an employee who was discovered to
be cross-dressing, even though the dress-up never occurred in the
workplace, but only on the employee's private time.
Having said that, there are definite restrictions on what an employer
can do, especially related to particular forms of discrimination, or
egregriously capricious behavior.
The specific answer to your question will depend in great deal on:
--is there a company employee handbook? If so, what does it say about
discipline, especially regarding after-hours behavior.
--what state is the workplace in? Local laws certainly come into play here.
--What was the nature of the incident, and the nature of the discipline?
The more you can tell us (and remember, this is a publicly-viewable
forum), the more likely it is that someone here can offer some
assistance.
Thanks.
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
smbreeden-ga
on
13 Jun 2004 15:48 PDT
In response to request for clarification:
Yes there is a handbook but it provides no guidance on after hours
activities. The location is on a federal military installation, in
VA.
The nature of the incident is that several off duty employees were in
a common parking lot. They were gathering around another employee's
vehicle, having a few beers between them. two shift rotations stopped
by this small group during their discharge from duty. Several of the
off duty supervisors were present and the senior most is being blamed
for the gathering. That supervisor's boss stated that there was no
violation of company policy, but suspended the supervisor temporarily.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
13 Jun 2004 18:24 PDT
smbreeden-ga,
Thanks for the additional information. It helps...up to a point.
The reason so many cases and so many issues end up in court(in labor
disputes, and elsewhere)is that both sides think they're right, and
both sides think the law is "on their side". Until the matter is
settled by the court, there's no way of knowing in advance who's going
to win and who's going to lose.
The situation you described falls into this sort of area, I think.
You can make a good case that the supervisor was wronged in this
situation, and was disciplined unfairly, since it sounds like this
one person was singled out of the group, and it seems there was an
admission that no company policies were violated. What's more, it's
not even clear what anyone was objecting to regarding the gathering
that occurred.
On the other hand, the company can make the case that they are within
their rights to take action against something they feel threatened
their status at the installation.
In one respect, the answer to your original question is obvious -- not
only CAN a company discipline an employee in the situation you
describe...they obviously DID!
The question of whether they went overboard or not could probably only
be settled in court. Is that the route you are interested in? If so,
what information can we provide to be of service to you?
Sorry to be rather imprecise with all this, but I'm afraid that's how
many such labor law issues tend to unfold. Let me know what you
think.
pafalafa-ga
P.S. By the way, does the company handbook spell out anything
regarding dispute resolution? A process of arbitration, perhaps, or
an internal board to hear disputes?
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
28 Jun 2004 08:25 PDT
Hello again,
Just checking back in. Is there anything here we can still help you
with, or do you already have the information you were looking for?
pafalafa-ga
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