Drunk worker reinstated because of printer malfunction
March 10, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Compliance, Hardware, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Anyone in IT knows how urgent equipment glitches can be. But here’s a case where a printer problem put one employer in an unusual predicament.
A hearing officer recently ruled a Denver employee fired for drinking at work couldn’t be terminated because the city failed to print out the results of a Breathalyzer test.
John Delgado work for the city as an equipment-operator specialist. In 2007, he failed a drug test required for all employees in safety-sensitive positions.
Rather than lose his job, he sought treatment and was required to abstain from drugs and alcohol for three years. He was fired after he failed an alcohol test last year.
The problem: The printer attached to the Breathalyzer machine malfunctioned and failed to print the results.
Even though Delgado didn’t dispute the positive results, the hearing officer decided he should keep his because the city lacked hard proof. He was put back in his position and given back pay for the time he was out of work.
The city plans to appeal the ruling. In the meantime, the printer has been fixed and a backup system has been installed.
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Tags: alcohol, printer, technical glitch, termination
March 17th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Wow. I would hope the appeal goes through.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:39 am
What??? Are you kidding me? Okay, just send him back to work to get drunk again and operation heavy machinery. He obviously did not learn his lesson by getting off the hook, once again. Maybe the employer should take a look at his face book page to see if he has something on it there he can fire him over! LOL!
March 18th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Wow, and what do you do with an employy who poses such a threat to other coworkers? The hearing officer should be obligated to ride with him to be sure he is not operating heavy equipment under the influence.
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