Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alcohol

[pete10]

Hi,

Situation: Employed 18 months, recently moved to new manufacturing/factory site 1 month ago. I am an IT office worker as offices share the same site, work 9-5 standard hours. Attending a work social evening at a restaurant, paid for by work. Few pints of beer afterwards as well, unable to get taxi home so entered site twice approx 3-4 hours after last drink trying to retrieve my bag from office, to enable me to pay for a taxi home. Office locked, asked to leave site, left site immediately when told to. Accused of being under the influence of alcohol whilst on site. Unaware that company operates a policy of nobody allowed on site whilst under influence of alcohol, my mistake as this was in a policy somewhere (no doubt didn't read it when i joined, my fault). Security staff say i was drunk, I say I'd been drunk but also take 2 types of blood pressure tablets which may have interacted with the alocohol (there are warnings on both, but i don't usually drink so i hadn't checked into it with doctor).

As the offence is classed as gross misconduct, I have been given an instant final written warning (exemplary record prior to this).

I am wondering where i stand on this as personally not happy that they have no hard evidence/facts to prove that i was actually under the influence of alcohol at the time.

I'll attach the annonymized transcripts to the next post, really appreciate any help on this, and advise as to whether i should appeal for a lesser penalty. I have been told (off the record) that some other managers viewed this as instant dismissal and i was lucky, is this really true ??

- - - Updated - - -

First set of transcripts ...

[pete10]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

Second set ...

[warwick65]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

can I be really awful here

In the first set of notes you say
' I wasn't heavily drunk'

What does that mean- you weren't drunk at all, a little tipsy, quite pissed but you should have seen me last week! You get my drift

It looks as if they did an investigation meeting

I think you will need to take it on the chin , maybe the only thing is ask them just how long this will stay active on your record
@Kati
I am not sure again who the experts are possibly [MENTION=26290]mariefab[/MENTION]

[Kati]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

@Kati
I am not sure again who the experts are @mariefab possibly

[MENTION=51026]Ula[/MENTION] or [MENTION=26290]mariefab[/MENTION] are our employment peeps xx

[warwick65]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

Thanks kati

@Ula or @mariefab are our employment peeps xx

I also notice you only vaguely remember going on site the night you weren't heavily drunk. It is a very long time since I have only had vague memories and trust me I am not tea total although I do understand the medication can have an impact - I take a bucketful myself

[pete10]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

Thanks for the quick response :-) my point there was that i had been drinking moderately earlier in the evening but didn't know if it was still effecting me at the time that i entered site, due to the nature of the medication which i'm on and the stress/panic of the situation ... without actually going back to that point in time and taking a breathalizer test how does anyone know how drunk i was, me included ? I'm assuming court type evidence is needed, but perhaps it isn't and as you say i should take it on the chin.

It is active for 12 months, but i'm told wouldn't appear on a reference even if within 12 months

[warwick65]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

The burden of proof in disciplinary meetings and also in employment tribunal is not beyond all reasonable doubt but reasonable belief ( or on the balance of probabilities).

maybe lets see what others have to say as i am only commenting from my point of view and experience not a professional HR or legal perspective.

Just one last question

had you been given, or made aware of , the terms and conditions and disciplinary policy . This might have been even just a web address as to where you could view them.

Sorry I am not the positive 'we'll beat the bar stewards' type

[pete10]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

Haha, no worries i'm not overly concerned just wanted some views on whether it's worth appealing. They did mention the balance of probabilities when i stated that they had no evidence, my assumption was that evidence was required but seems not then ... oh well

I had been given all the Ts and Cs, disciplinary policy, etc, so no problems with that, my only beef is that they rushed it through to get me back to work sooner (as i was suspended and my boss really needed me back in) so they didn't give me the 48 hours notice before the hearing, but to be fair if i had pushed for it they would have let me have it so won't pull them up on that

[mariefab]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

I agree with Warwick; you should take it on the chin (and keep your head down for at least the next year).

It doesn't really matter whether the effects were because of the drink or the medication. Your employer is legally liable for the health and safety of anyone on their site. Even if they completely accept everything you said about the medication affecting you adversely when you'd had a couple of drinks and that you had no idea that that could happen; the fact is that you were on the site in an impaired condition.

They have to take that seriously. The documents show that they, understandably, had no protocol in place to deal with this kind of incident. Giving you a final warning is reasonable. They absolutely could have fairly dismissed you.

On re-reading that ^ it does seem pretty harsh. I do realise that all this was unintentional on your part, so I'm sorry if you feel like you've just had another spanking.

[pete10]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

Thanks for the advise so far - sounds like I need to take it on the chin and no grounds to appeal.

Wouldn't mind some views on whether this is normal behaviour from a large manufacturing type company ?

Given that a. It was my first offence of any kind b. I didn't actually endanger anyone or damage anything (my office door is very close to the turnstiles so I was nowhere near the factory units or any machinery)

What is frustrating me is the severity of the punishment given that I was stranded 30 miles from home at 2am and didn't have any intention whatsoever other than to find a way to get home .....

[ULA]

Re: Instant final written warning for being on site whilst under the influence of alc

In my experience this would not only be normal behaviour for a large manufacturing type company but for any company that takes the health and safety of its staff seriously. In some companies it would be grounds for dismissal.

It appears that you did not realise the affect that the medication would have combined with alcohol however it does not mitigate the issue, however unintentional.

As you have been advised by others just take it on the chin, make sure you thoroughly read all the companies policies and procedures and stay the right side of them for next 12 months.