A reputable northeastern construction company employs six experienced construction super- visors for its various constru
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:19 pm
A reputable northeastern construction company employs six
experienced construction super-
visors for its various construction jobs. These supervisors have
the overall responsibility of
hiring and firing and seeing that the construction proceeds as
close to time and cost schedules
as possible. They also have the responsibility of overall quality
control of the construction.
Larry Werst, age 55, has been a supervisor for this company for
many years. He is never
absent and has established a reputation for getting the job done
right and close to schedule.
He has supervised the construction of several prominent buildings
and is now supervising the
construction of a college fraternity house. Werst’s approach to
handling his employees is firm
and sometimes harsh. He does not allow any back talk, and everyone
who works for him
usually earns his or her pay or is not on the job for very
long.
The owner and manager of the company had become concerned about
Werst because
rumors were circulating that he was an alcoholic and that he drank
on the job. The owner
knew that Werst drank a lot and had a stormy home life, but he did
not know whether he was
drinking on the job.
One day, when the manager was talking with Werst, he smelled
alcohol on his breath.
This had happened on several occasions when office and storeroom
employees noticed the
odor when they talked to him. Also, the storeroom clerk noticed
that almost every day Werst
would come into the store, buy two Cokes, and then leave in his
company truck, presumably
to go back to his job site.
The manager decided to talk to Werst about this situation. When he
confronted Werst
with the rumors, his alcoholic breath, and the purchasing of two
Cokes at a time, Werst
denied that he was drinking on the job. He replied that the rumors
were just that and that the
two Cokes were for himself and his carpenter supervisor. The
manager told him that he would
have to let him go if he were caught drinking on the job. He
reminded Werst that the firm’s
progressive discipline system included a rule that states, ‘‘No
employee is permitted to go on
duty or remain on duty if he or she possesses, is under the
influence of, or is consuming an
alcoholic beverage. Violation of this policy will result in
dismissal.’’
About a year later, when the construction season was again in full
swing, stories began
circulating about Werst’s drinking. His fellow employees now
pondered over the quart of milk
he drank every day. They wondered if he spiked the milk and/or used
it to cover his alcoholic
breath. Sometimes his speech seemed slurred, but Werst was
gravel-voiced and had sloppy
speech habits anyway. The workers were amused by the stories he
would tell about things that
had happened to him. They were just stories, of course, but lately
they were becoming
pathetically farfetched and made no sense at all.
The manager soon heard about some of the new rumors about Werst,
and he wondered
what he should do about the situation again. Werst still had never
actually been caught
drinking on the job. His construction project was proceeding
satisfactorily, but it was a little
behind schedule due to the inability to hire good carpenters and
laborers at the beginning of
the construction season. And worker turnover was perhaps somewhat
higher on this project
than the average turnover.
270 Part 5 • Enhancing Employee Relations
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be
copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to
electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from
the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not
materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning
reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if
subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Questions
1. What course of action should the owner-manager follow? Why? (
Give references from SHRM and EEOC)
2. To what extent should the owner-manager go to try to catch Larry
Werst drinking
on the job? ( Give references from SHRM and EEOC)
Give bullet point solution to these question.
experienced construction super-
visors for its various construction jobs. These supervisors have
the overall responsibility of
hiring and firing and seeing that the construction proceeds as
close to time and cost schedules
as possible. They also have the responsibility of overall quality
control of the construction.
Larry Werst, age 55, has been a supervisor for this company for
many years. He is never
absent and has established a reputation for getting the job done
right and close to schedule.
He has supervised the construction of several prominent buildings
and is now supervising the
construction of a college fraternity house. Werst’s approach to
handling his employees is firm
and sometimes harsh. He does not allow any back talk, and everyone
who works for him
usually earns his or her pay or is not on the job for very
long.
The owner and manager of the company had become concerned about
Werst because
rumors were circulating that he was an alcoholic and that he drank
on the job. The owner
knew that Werst drank a lot and had a stormy home life, but he did
not know whether he was
drinking on the job.
One day, when the manager was talking with Werst, he smelled
alcohol on his breath.
This had happened on several occasions when office and storeroom
employees noticed the
odor when they talked to him. Also, the storeroom clerk noticed
that almost every day Werst
would come into the store, buy two Cokes, and then leave in his
company truck, presumably
to go back to his job site.
The manager decided to talk to Werst about this situation. When he
confronted Werst
with the rumors, his alcoholic breath, and the purchasing of two
Cokes at a time, Werst
denied that he was drinking on the job. He replied that the rumors
were just that and that the
two Cokes were for himself and his carpenter supervisor. The
manager told him that he would
have to let him go if he were caught drinking on the job. He
reminded Werst that the firm’s
progressive discipline system included a rule that states, ‘‘No
employee is permitted to go on
duty or remain on duty if he or she possesses, is under the
influence of, or is consuming an
alcoholic beverage. Violation of this policy will result in
dismissal.’’
About a year later, when the construction season was again in full
swing, stories began
circulating about Werst’s drinking. His fellow employees now
pondered over the quart of milk
he drank every day. They wondered if he spiked the milk and/or used
it to cover his alcoholic
breath. Sometimes his speech seemed slurred, but Werst was
gravel-voiced and had sloppy
speech habits anyway. The workers were amused by the stories he
would tell about things that
had happened to him. They were just stories, of course, but lately
they were becoming
pathetically farfetched and made no sense at all.
The manager soon heard about some of the new rumors about Werst,
and he wondered
what he should do about the situation again. Werst still had never
actually been caught
drinking on the job. His construction project was proceeding
satisfactorily, but it was a little
behind schedule due to the inability to hire good carpenters and
laborers at the beginning of
the construction season. And worker turnover was perhaps somewhat
higher on this project
than the average turnover.
270 Part 5 • Enhancing Employee Relations
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be
copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to
electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from
the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not
materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning
reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if
subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Questions
1. What course of action should the owner-manager follow? Why? (
Give references from SHRM and EEOC)
2. To what extent should the owner-manager go to try to catch Larry
Werst drinking
on the job? ( Give references from SHRM and EEOC)
Give bullet point solution to these question.