One of our Departments best employees was caught placing boogers on door handles at our company?

Question

they had been on the look out because of people complaining of getting big boogers on their hands when opening and closing doors. Now Human Resources wants to get rid of him and says the only person who can save him is our department vice president of staff, we cant afford to loose him, how should we approach the vice president to tell him to give him a second chance?

Answer 1

Absolutely not.  Your departments work output should not rest on one person.  I would hope you have folks cross-trained and such to fill a void.  

If this guy is smearing boogers on door handles he obviously has no respect for anyone at your place of business, so why is he there?  Sorry, I know this is not what you wanted to here, but I would be pushing hard for termination.  

Another thing to consider is consistency.  You want to be constant in how you treat your associates.  You cannot pardon this guy and then when someone else comes along who does something like this fire him because he is a mediocre worker.  Really bad for workplace morale and wining your unemployment cases :-).

Answer 2

Besides being gross, this is a good way to spread germs.

I believe that your vp needs to reprimand him, by having him go to counseling to have him face the reasons why he did this horrendous act.

Answer 3

Tell the vp he has to help him stay because you are worried that his next job might otherwise be at a restaurant...

Answer 4

Tell him to eat them instead. Bam!! problem solved!!

Answer 5

Tell him to say that it looks like boogers but it's not (it's snot -- get it?)

This story is honestly the funniest thing I have heard all day!

But seriously, find out why.  Maybe there is a genuine reason why he is unhappy.  Not that this makes it acceptable, but it does provide a little ground to stand on.  Then have him apologize in a meeting to everyone who was boogered.  Make sure this meeting is supervised, and everyone knows that it is not to start a big argument, just for the person to apologize.  Let them know that he is being severely reprimanded, and almost lost his job.  Find some severe reprimand, and tell him that he almost lost his job.

Honestly though, money doesn't justify keeping this person on board.  People could sue the company because of the egregious nature of what he did.  By keeping him there, even if it was a one time thing, the company might be found guilty of creating an unsafe work environment.  And will people ever really be able to trust him?  I wouldn't ever want to touch anything around that place, and neither would most people.  Like most people, I would just look for another job.  And a lot of people would sue management for allowing the guy to stay on board, which would make everyone uncertain about everything they touched or ate.

Answer 6

Nobody is irreplaceable.  The guy has issues.  Let him go.  As you can probably imagine, once this story is out, he won't stay long anyway.

Answer 7

I wouldn't call someone who spends their work time smearing boogers on door handles a "best employee". This guy's actions speak volumes about his respect for the company and his coworkers. Not only is he gross but he was also endangering everyone's health. If I were in your shoes there is no way I would give this guy a second chance. Quite frankly, I think HR should have fired him for cause as soon as they gathered their evidence.