HR/ethics/moral question

[yellowumbrella]

Does your company have a procedure in place for anonymous comments?

[spiderspray]

Working under the influence = something needs to be done.

I'm not sure what field you're in, although that shouldn't matter. Obviously if she's in the medical field, deals with children, or basically could cause harm to others by having her judgment impaired, report this, like, yesterday.

In any case, or any field, this needs to be handled asap. Most large companies have employee assistance programs for such things. Do you know if yours does? Do you have someone who is senior to you in HR who you could confide in with this issue without making it "public"?

This is a tough spot to be in, but you are unfortunately not in a position to turn a blind eye. This sounds pretty serious (she's been taken to the hospital it got so bad??) and needs to be dealt with. Good luck, and lots of hugs.

[UMaineTeach]

thinking I would have a chat with my HR boss.
and let the HR boss figure out if anything needs to be done, or maybe employee is covered by ADA or in treatment or something that HR boss can't tell you, but can let you know she heard you.

[luvmagoldn]

I do work in employee relations. You definitely need to bring this to someone's attention. Not only is this bad for her, it's a liability for the company. And now that you know...

Having said that, handling these kinds of issues is tricky. Are you SURE the person who told you about taking the boss to the hospital is telling the truth? And knows, for a fact, that she is an alcoholic? If you trust the source I would tell someone what you know. Should you tell her boss? Someone senior in the HR dept? That I can't answer. But tell someone you trust who can get the ball rolling on this.

[luvmagoldn]

This is one of the difficult things about being in HR. Everything needs to be filtered through your HR lense. It doesn't matter if someone told you as a friend. You work in HR so you have to take some kind of action.

At least once in every person's HR career, they lose a work friend because of obligation to the company. I'm sorry but it seems this may be the moment for you.

I think you know what the right thing is. But that doesn't make it easy.

Please let us know how this turns out. I feel for you. I really do.

[ejpint]

I would be surprised if you didn't have an ethics hotline of some kind as part of your open door policy. You should be able to call in your concern and remain anonymous. In an ideal world, you'd feel comfortable approaching your boss with this information for guidance, but I understand you're in a sticky spot.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the advice, ladies! I deleted my parts of the post. Hopefully that's all that needs doing to protect privacy.