Transfer of existing employee

[sheffieldemployer]

I am looking for reasons not to justify the transfer of an existing employee from a part time to a full time role. The individual involved has a history of absence and came in to work stinking of alcohol recently. None of these cases have been managed properly by their current manager who has papered over the cracks rather than addressing the issues with the absences being classed as emergency leave and the alcohol being discussed informally. This member of staff has now applied for a full time role with me in a different area of the business but undertaking the same duties and I have been advised that we cannot turn them down. Is there anything legally that states they must be given the full time role? They performed very well at interview so I am stuck as to how I avoid taking on this person.

[teaboy2]

Re: Transfer of existing employee

First of all just so where clear on this, has the employee in question requested his hours be changed from part time to full time, or has he simply applied for a different role in the company, hence the interview? Sounds like the employee has applied for a new/different role in the company.

What reason where you advised as to why you can not turn him down?

Was there any other candidates that applied for the same role, with a better employment record, in regards to absences and not smelling of alcohol? - Also was their any applicants from that do not currently work for the company that have the required experience, skills and/or qualifications etc?

[sheffieldemployer]

Re: Transfer of existing employee

Yes the employee applied for the role as they would like a full time role in the business. The role is a new one we have created due to expansion. I have been told that I cannot reject them as there is no recorded issue with their conduct or performance in their current role. We have plenty of interest externally of the business for the role. There were some other internal candidates again with no issues surrounding their performance or alcohol!!! Should an internal applicant receive preferential treatment over external?

[teaboy2]

Re: Transfer of existing employee

Right well the way i see it, if the role is same or similar with the same benefits wages then you can employ whomever you feel would be the best choice

I assume the current employee has notes in his employment record about coming to work smelling of alcohol and a record of his attendance.

Though when you said emergency time off what was the actual reason was it any of the following:

• Public duties
• Looking for work and making arrangements for training
• Ante-natal care
• Ante-natal care: agency workers
• Dependants
• Occupational pension scheme trustees
• Employee representatives

Some of the above may not apply to them. And its likely only the dependents right to time off applies - But then the key word in the legislation is "Reasonable" - Therefore excessive time off for dependents goes against the employee and is likely to be deemed as an abuse of the right to time of for dependents, unless the employee can prove otherwise, which as they are part time at the moment is highly unlikely as a Part time employee has more time to arrange alternative care than a full time employee does.

So how many days off has this employee had in the last 6 months and what are their working hours/days per week? with hat info we can work out if it is excessive amount of time off or not! which you can then use to argue that the decision to not give the role to them was a business decision based purely on the amount of time off they had over the last 7 months (including the calculations that we will do later in this thread) which you deemed to have been excessive and therefore not a reasonable amount as permitted under the employment rights act for time off for dependents.

As for the alcohol, well usually when someone comes to work smelling of it, its likely they are still under the influence, which is a misconduct issue - However you have to tread carefully. As you have to show its effected they work performance and/or the performance of those around them, whether it effected their concentration, coordination etc and etc.

Personally i think you have a serious issue with this employees manager whos clearly not doing his job, i.e. manager employees. As whats he seems to be doing is covering for them, and that is not in the best interest of any company as it means your not getting 100% performance from your staff and they are being allowed to slack off by the sound off it. Though you should approach the manager informally, politely and in a friendly manner in private and say "Look its not good enough, your here to manage people not cover their backs ask him/her to report all such issues directly to yourself in future before he takes any action himself" - So then you can tell him what action you would like him to take, tell him its so he can learn what you expect from him. Also ask him if hes struggling at work, having any problems, work or personal and advise him your only a phone call away.