This segment allows candidates to ask questions that will be answered directly by our CEO, Darcy Swift. This month’s question is: Can you be punished at Work for Actions on Personal Time?
QUESTION: A few of my co-workers and I went out after work a few weeks ago. After too much to drink, I ended up getting in a little fight with one of my co-workers and hit him in the face. It was all over pretty quickly and we all went home. The next day I called to apologize for my actions, he didn’t answer so I left a voicemail. The following Monday I got to work and none of my co-workers would speak to me. My manager called me in and told me that I was on probation for assaulting a co-worker. She said my voicemail was proof enough to fire me but she would give me a warning with probation. Can she do that? I got in a fight, yes, but it wasn’t at work so how could she fire me? I wasn’t even asked for my side of the story. I wasn’t the only one throwing punches, I was just the one that connected. Either way, it seems wrong that I could get in trouble at work for something that happened during the weekend. What should I do?
ANSWER: First of all, you need to request a meeting with your supervisor and manager. Then you need to ask exactly what the reason is listed the would result in probation (get everything in writing). Ask for a copy of the probation papers with the listed reason if you do not already have them. If the weekend events are the cause of probation (as you are representing the company on and off work), you need to remind your subordinates that this happened on personal time and not on company time or property. Your other co-workers were involved as well, so if you are being punished then the other parties involved also need to be punished. If you do not get a satisfactory answer or result, you then need to move your complaint to your HR representative.
If you have a question you want answered, please contact us HERE. We will feature one frequently asked question a month.
This segment allows candidates to ask questions that will be answered directly by our CEO, Darcy Swift. This month’s question is: Can you be punished at Work for Actions on Personal Time?
QUESTION: A few of my co-workers and I went out after work a few weeks ago. After too much to drink, I ended up getting in a little fight with one of my co-workers and hit him in the face. It was all over pretty quickly and we all went home. The next day I called to apologize for my actions, he didn’t answer so I left a voicemail. The following Monday I got to work and none of my co-workers would speak to me. My manager called me in and told me that I was on probation for assaulting a co-worker. She said my voicemail was proof enough to fire me but she would give me a warning with probation. Can she do that? I got in a fight, yes, but it wasn’t at work so how could she fire me? I wasn’t even asked for my side of the story. I wasn’t the only one throwing punches, I was just the one that connected. Either way, it seems wrong that I could get in trouble at work for something that happened during the weekend. What should I do?
ANSWER: First of all, you need to request a meeting with your supervisor and manager. Then you need to ask exactly what the reason is listed the would result in probation (get everything in writing). Ask for a copy of the probation papers with the listed reason if you do not already have them. If the weekend events are the cause of probation (as you are representing the company on and off work), you need to remind your subordinates that this happened on personal time and not on company time or property. Your other co-workers were involved as well, so if you are being punished then the other parties involved also need to be punished. If you do not get a satisfactory answer or result, you then need to move your complaint to your HR representative.
If you have a question you want answered, please contact us HERE. We will feature one frequently asked question a month.