[rat]

Again I cannot prove it nor has anyone caught the person red handed, they may or may not be drunk and may or may not be bringing in their own stash.
Is it possible to smell of alcohol and not be drunk? Maybe from the night before?
Our HR policy does make it hard ot terminate someone with a drug / alcohol problem- especially if they do admit to it, unless they get into a fight because they are drinking- then they can be terminated.

There has been missing boose or booze that is unaccounted for but I think I am dealing with more that one drunk and one person is being used to cover the other drinking. I will wait and see and keep my eyes open. Also some of the other cooks have come in drunk on occasion and it not uncommon for 4-5 of them to kill a case and a half of beer while closing up shop. This is related to cooks that are not in my department-so I am keeping out of that situation as i am not in charge of that particular dept.

I will wait and see.

[BillRchef]

I would be relieved if this were my problem. I have a co- manager who will sometimes shows up staggering, slurring words, ect. I suspect its alot more than alchol. I work for a large corporation, my G.M. has just been fired, and I just relayed this info. to my D.M. . He dropped it back in my lap, saying " keep me informed of this and stay on top of it".
If you think your haveing a tough time in a single restruant situation .....try it from a corperate level. I truely do wish you the best of luck. mabe we could get together and write a good movie script......lol.

[Theresa]

Not knowing whether your employee participates in a health plan or not, I can only tell you what we had and what we did for our employees with problems. Many larger health insurance companies provide addiction treatment and services as part of their plans. If your employee participates, the first thing you or your HR person want to do is to contact the insurance company and find out if these are provided, and whether the employee will need a physician referral to use these benefits.

Then have the private talk with the employee.

You have certain rights as an employer, based on the safety factor for the other employees in your kitchen. Find out what your rights are in your state.

Theresa