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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 11/29/2011 11:41 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 1
First: 11/29/2011 Last: 11/29/2011 |
In Response to Re: excessive bathroom breaks: Boanna has the best response yet.....that is the road I would have taken....Find out what the full story is. There might be a legitimate reason for his bathroom breaks and may be related to his injury. Until someone asks him, no one will know. And based on the conversation, then some action can be taken accordingly. |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 11/29/2011 12:42 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 3
First: 11/29/2011 Last: 10/18/2012 |
Agreed not to jump to discipline so quickly. Assess the problem with compassion for the employee. Consider their needs and explain the big picture of how their behavior fits in with the overall team productivity. Consider the possibility that you may want to refer this person to your EAP if available...the frequent bathroom breaks could be opportunistic for drug use. Is there random testing? Jumping to disciplinary measures too quickly could result in lowered morale and even lower productivity for this ee and the team. Eventual firing will only make everyone else fear for their jobs. Best to try to improve behavior through private conversations and coaching...if possible! |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 11/29/2011 1:28 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 149
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/13/2012 |
Allowing the employee to continue to take 15 minutes each hour in the bathroom is also a a morale boat anchor. Other employees are watching to see what management is going to do about this, if anything. Do nothing, and the other employees who are doing their jobs are going to wonder why and probably won't be nearly as motivated to produce. The employee does not want to be at work. The company, I assume, does not want the employee to be at work. The only reason he's there is because of a WC injury. The excessive bathroom breaks are outside of the WC consideration. It's a discipline issue. Follow a progressive discipline program of verbal warning, written warning (or 2) and discharge if the behavior continues. |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 11/29/2011 2:32 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 1
First: 11/29/2011 Last: 11/29/2011 |
I’m rather taken aback by the tone of most of the posts in this thread. First of all, Superior assumes that because the worker requested that his doctor not allow him to work that he doesn’t want to work. It is much more likely that the worker is experiencing a painful recovery and even light duty is quite difficult for him. The nature of the injury is not stated, but the most common workers comp injuries are hernias and back injuries. Since Superior states that the worker has been given shorter work hours and “light duty” I would guess the injury was one of these. So why would Superior (and most of the respondents to this post) assume the worst? Superior does not tell us that she has spoken to the worker about any of this- that should be the first step. The tone of that meeting should be a friendly check-in. Something like “Hi Fred. I just wanted to check in with you to see how you are doing since you have been back at work. Are your work duties manageable?” The worker’s response might even include and explanation of why he is spending so much time in the bathroom. In any event it will open a dialogue to find out what is going on with the bathroom breaks. Superior should consider the information from this exchange to evaluate what her next move should be, such as asking for a doctor’s note or temporarily modifying work duties. The bottom line is that this was a worker comp injury and the worker has been put on light duty for his recovery period. Superior is responsible to ensure that the worker does not re-injure himself and file another workers comp claim. She is also responsible for ensuring that the worker be treated fairly and humanely. Automatically jumping to the worst assumption is not going to facilitate fair and humane treatment of her workers. |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 1/19/2012 11:21 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 4
First: 11/18/2011 Last: 9/6/2012 |
First, thank you all for the responses. Unfortunately, I must have set my preferrences wrong and didn't see most of these until after the latest developments. |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 1/19/2012 6:37 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 149
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/13/2012 |
My advice was the same and FREE! So now your next challenge will be to make sure that he doesn't win a UI claim! I'd hate to see your UI rates go up because of something like this, to say nothing of not rewarding a bogus injury claim.
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 3/1/2012 5:35 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 3
First: 3/1/2012 Last: 7/5/2012 |
Many of the posts speaking of discipline overlook an important point. If the employee sues you, be prepared to have his/her attorney cross-examine you: Where did you earn the MD degree which qualifies you to diagnose that the employee was visiting the bathroom unnecessarily? |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 3/1/2012 7:48 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 149
First: 9/29/2011 Last: 12/13/2012 |
You have doctors reports of the injury and presumably allowed him to present evidence of an ADA condition mandating frequent bathroom breaks. Assuming that none was offered, the termination was justifiable. And the employee's reaction would appear to be that this was, as was suspected, precisely what he wanted. |
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Re: excessive bathroom breaks
posted at 7/3/2012 1:11 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 1
First: 7/3/2012 Last: 7/3/2012 |
How could one ask such a question to the employee about Bathroom Remodeling |
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