You have a problem....

You are the Plant Manager for a local chemical company. One of your operators was arrested last night for shooting another person, while intoxicated. He is currently in jail and pending charges for attempted murder. He is expected to be released on bail this afternoon and has taken vacation to cover the time he missed while in jail. However, he is scheduled to return to work in the morning.

This operator has been a long term employee but he has had some previous "issues" with alcohol. He has been rehabilitated once, at company expense, after voluntarily reporting a substance abuse problem. He has also been demoted from a supervisory position after reporting to work intoxicated. He works in a potentially hazardous location that, with his technical knowledge, could be disastrous if performance is substandard. The other operators have expressed concern about having him return to work and the potential for "something" to happen.

There is no Union involved in this case.

As a Plant Manager what would you do$?$ Go through the first $4$ options and give the pros and cons then answer #$5$

Here are your options:

Let the employee return to work. He has done no wrong, on the plantsite, and has not been found guilty of a crime. $($pros and cons$)$

Suspend the employee with pay until he is found either guilty or not. This could be expensive since the trial may not happen for $6$ months or more. $($pros and cons$)$

Suspend the employee without pay. If he is found "not guilty" let him return to work $($pros and cons$)$

Terminate the employee immediately! Good riddance! $($pros and cons$)$

Please specify what you would do as the Plant Manager. Include the reasons for your action and describe how you would justify your actions to Senior Management.

Note: This is a role play paper so please feel free to be creative. However, you will be graded on the plausibility, legality and ingenuity of your proposal. You may not change the basic facts presented.