Employee doing pills

I always show up late due to a disability called Sleepinitis so ya cant fire me.
Nya nya nya nya nya!

NY is nuts; no such in NC.

"How does anyone think its unreasonable to fire someone doing drugs on the job?"

No one said that. If you zerotolerance zealots would stop misstating the proposed alternatives, you'd understand that personal contact first is best. Look him in the eye, make it clear. Delegate his sobriety to him, let him know you're watching, and you're not the only one.
"you want to help him, tell him hes a dumbass, get his shit together, and find a more productive way to spend his money." +1
 
Guy, It's Sleep apnea...I know a guy got caught sleeping at work.
Guy Got fired, got a note from the doctors...guy had a sleeping disorder.oh no can't fire a guy.
Guy Got a surgery to fix his problem, (we all could benefit from a nasal surgery, unless you are black) and guy got to take lots of pills at home while his pays checks kept flowing.
Oh same guy...when they started testing for the weed. Guy got the disability "status" again. Did not have to quit, just had to reduce " toxicity" levels over the next year, while in rehab for fucking pot. So in the end guy gets the fake penis (synthetic urine w/digital heater) guy is set !
 
Boomslang said:
To everyone saying boot his ass, how does that solve the real problem? OK, so he gets fired and your company is once again safe, huzzah! Now buddy goes and finds another job driving truck with his CDL and is right back on the road popping pills while driving........but so long as he's not your responsibility it's all kosher, right?

Too often people take the easy way out rather than getting their hands dirty trying to help people or change things. An addiction isn't something people just stop because they get a job (look at smokers). Give the kid a chance, help him through it, show him you actually give a fuck. THAT will do more to save his life than firing him ever will. Once you've done everything within reason to help him and he either doesn't want it or it doesn't work then you resort to the option of letting him go. Some people can't be helped, but there are a great deal more who can if only someone takes the time to do it.
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I too appreciate where you are coming from on this, but you need to understand something clearly- Snorting while driving is dangerous enough to grab the keys, much less snorting a CDC!

Look, this dependency is not like a casual beer. If he is snorting pills during the day then he is at a stage that you can't talk to him about the problem and reason with him. You will be speaking to a chemical. You really can't help him like that. He needs professional help not a friend.

How would you feel if you were in a truck and something terrible happened? Would you not feel responsible too?

By contemplating your move you are just prolonging the inevitable and giving him more time to make a terrible mistake that could be irreversible. Firing him would actually be a help or at least a realization that it's not acceptable.

Good luck.
 
I get where your coming from, but I still believe firing him does nothing other than relieve you of responsibility. If he's as addicted as we think how do you think he'll find his next fix? Stealing? Mugging? I know these things shouldn't concern you as he's not your problem anymore, but what if it's you or your company he steals from?

Perhaps the one option that hasn't been mentioned yet is the best one. Call the police. He's obviously in possession of a controlled substance and he has clearly operated a vehicle under the influence. Both pretty serious crimes in the US if I'm not mistaken. At the very least he would lose his license and it would serve as a better wake up call than getting fired from some menial job.
 
Boomslang said:
I get where your coming from, but I still believe firing him does nothing other than relieve you of responsibility. If he's as addicted as we think how do you think he'll find his next fix? Stealing? Mugging? I know these things shouldn't concern you as he's not your problem anymore, but what if it's you or your company he steals from?

Perhaps the one option that hasn't been mentioned yet is the best one. Call the police. He's obviously in possession of a controlled substance and he has clearly operated a vehicle under the influence. Both pretty serious crimes in the US if I'm not mistaken. At the very least he would lose his license and it would serve as a better wake up call than getting fired from some menial job.
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I'm not really worried about the relieving of responsibility. I'm just saying that I don't believe you can help him. He has to want to get help. All you can do is not enable him to become a bigger threat to your life and others. You can't control much. What you can control- you should.

Unless he's been in trouble before he'll probably just get a slap on the wrist even if the police find something on him. He'd have to cause an accident or have a large quantity on him to get him arrested. Even jail just passes time here on this one. He'll probably come out and go back to where he was in ten minutes. It's really sad. Drugs suck.
 
Last I heard you don't snort clariton, but irregardless let the boss make the decision of what to do. I won't have an employee that I know is doing drugs on the job. And we're not rehab counselors, I have to look out for my family and business first as well as my employees and making sure they make it home in 1 piece to their families before I let 1 guy's feelings and situation disrupt everything I've worked for
 
The kid goes off road in a big truck and injures someone or damages property or his actions injure another worker and the boss knows he's doing drugs then he becomes liable and probably criminally negligent of anything that happens. His personal property may not even be safe from the lawsuits, so how can anyone say sit back and give the kid a break, who else is going to feed my family - the state?
 
Claritin you take when you're stuffed up from allergies. Would be hard to snort I'd imagine.

In all seriousness, if you're snorting the pills rather than taking them orally, you got problems. I don't care what the medication is, you're looking for a quick high.
 
I have to say Boomslang, before I ever ran my company I saw things exactly the way you do right now. And I still have that same heart, but I've made a lot of mistakes and I've learned from them. Going through the hard times of running a biz changes you. I would really hate to think it turns you into an asshole but I'm sure some people see it that way. You end up making rules to ensure you don't go through the same headaches again. For many of us, our business is our baby.
 
Boomslang said:
To everyone saying boot his ass, how does that solve the real problem? OK, so he gets fired and your company is once again safe, huzzah! Now buddy goes and finds another job driving truck with his CDL and is right back on the road popping pills while driving........but so long as he's not your responsibility it's all kosher, right?

Too often people take the easy way out rather than getting their hands dirty trying to help people or change things. An addiction isn't something people just stop because they get a job (look at smokers). Give the kid a chance, help him through it, show him you actually give a fuck. THAT will do more to save his life than firing him ever will. Once you've done everything within reason to help him and he either doesn't want it or it doesn't work then you resort to the option of letting him go. Some people can't be helped, but there are a great deal more who can if only someone takes the time to do it.
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well said
 
If you were paid by a client to evaluate a tree , and it had clear indicators of elevated risk, would you hold out on disclosing the facts to the tree owner, because you personally might like to see the tree preserved, but you're afraid that that the tree owner might not make the decision you'd like for them to make? Or would you make a complete and objective disclosure of the facts and let them decide for themselves? I don't see this scenario falling terribly far from the one put forward by the OP on this thread.
 
Your company has a drug policy? What does it say? Failing that what is the policy in the state? This is not a matter for you to deal with except to report it to your supervisor and then let it go up through the chain of command. Whatever the policy is, that's the beginning and end of it. Drug abuse is a black and white issue of safety for the workers, the public and the individual. Approach the supervisor and state the facts as you have witnessed them. Let him know what your concerns are. The supervisor's job is to oversee the crew. It is his job period. When you signed on and when the driver signed on you were both aware of the consequences of your actions and inactions. This is not a case of being a snitch. Your doing him and everyone around him a favor. To Guy's point it will be up to the company and whatever their policies and practices are. They may have a rehab program or they may just have a policy that it's illegal and thus cause for immediate termination.
 
If it were me, I'd talk to him. Tell him to his face that this shit isn't cool, then go to the boss, but also let this kid know you are going to the boss. It's tough love, and every one who has said that he has to want to stop other wise he wont is right. Who know's it may not be an addiction, and he is just playing around with this stuff. I know I did at one point (never snorting, or anything too hard). I did experiment, and found my self walking that line of no return and simply stopped.

I had a good friend who was a heroin junkie, and I would hang out with him. We were close, but the rule was he couldn't come to my house if he was high. He started turning around, so I let him live with me in my basement, with the agreement of no smack and no guests. He started sneaking in his junkie girlfriend, so I kicked him out. He was found dead under a bridge a few weeks later in a different state. He died of a staff infection in his blood stream, and his girlfriend was with him the whole time. She didn't want to get help, because she was afraid that they would be arrested.

Some times they will get it. Some times it's just a phase, and others simply won't. This kid will either stop playing around with this shit (if he isn't addicted), or he will want to stop and need pro help to do so. Most of the time it is too hard to set up proper boundaries and to stay some what removed from the situation unless your trained to do so.
This is a dangerous job, if he was washing dishes in some dinner it may be different (may not).
 
Excellent analogy by Cervi:

"If you were paid by a client to evaluate a tree , and it had clear indicators of elevated risk, would you hold out on disclosing the facts..."

The trouble, in both situations, is that we lack facts. If he is snorting No-Doz, how would it feel to go to the boss and bust him for caffeine?
Our knowledge of 'clear indicators' in both scenarios really sucks--be honest now!!. To convey our suppositions as 'facts' seems a tad inflated. Easy to mislead our own selves and others.

We need to find out the facts before we can make a complete and objective disclosure of the facts. Listen to and watch the tree. Listen to and watch the colleague. Weigh the evidence. Until then it's best to stfu.
If after learning more you think the boss should know, then tell. If you think the kid has potential, advocate a 'probationary' period.

Snap judgments are irresponsible with both trees and people. Both can be monitored and reassessed. Unless you think the facts that led tree guys to condemn May-Li's Torched Tips Tree were completely and objectively disclosed? Would a condemnation of that tree have been TRAQ-compliant? Maybe so; I don't know.

We don't have landscapes full of good trees, or HR depts full of good applications--do you, Mr. Chisholm? We are too few for fratricide, or witless arborcide.
You can reduce trees, so it's rare that you really have to 'fire' one!
Other than that, I don't see this scenario falling terribly far from the one put forward by the OP on this thread. ;)

sad story by evo; that's gotta feel bad.
 
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I saw three people with good starts from good families loose it over the years and end up dead. Once it begins, usually it ends quick or the person manages to turn around.

In the end it is the person that has to want to change, until that choice has been made, everyone who comes into contact with the user stands a very likely chance of getting burned.
 
I stand on my statement, Guy. If the guy IS snorting No-Doz, then I'd like for the boss to say "By the way, guys Fred Snorts No-Doz, so don't be alarmed if he's crushing pills and honking them up at red lights. He's got a note from his doctor" The OP didn't hire the driver, and the OP won't fire the driver. His duty of care to himself, the rest of his crew and his employer, is to bring the matter to the boss's attention, so that the company owner/manager can make an informed decision. A client who pays me for an evaluation is entitled to know the entirety of my observations and opinion, so that they can make their own informed decision. They're the owner, they own the decision and the outcome. If someone is torching tips in a truck, I'm not riding. I'm a non smoker.
 
We don't have landscapes full of good trees, or HR depts full of good applications--do you, Mr. Chisholm? We are too few for fratricide, or witless arborcide.
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Sorry Guy, but I am not sure I understand where you are going with this statement or why I'm singled out?

At any rate, I am not sure how many of you have an intimate understanding of what this individual is doing. Crushing pills and snorting them is very serious. You don't want to be a passenger in any vehicle with someone that is doing this. And you don't want them working on your tree crew period. He may be a good person, but good people ruin lives too.
 
There is probably a warning on whatever he is doing stating, "do not take while operating machinery". If it falls under these guidelines I'd suggest looking into some other job. You should ask.
 
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