Drunk and Disorderly–Do You Have to Accommodate Alcoholism?

(We received this great article about Alcohol on the job today from HR Today- we hope you find it helpful and informative….)

By government estimates, nearly 14 million Americans abuse alcohol or are alcoholic, and millions more are close to being so. That means, odds are, some of them are working for you.

Fortunately, with support and treatment, many people are able to stop drinking and rebuild their lives. But how much does the company have to help?

What is alcoholism?
Alcoholism is a disease marked by these symptoms:
–Craving (a strong need or compulsion to drink),
–Loss of control (the inability to limit one’s drinking),
–Physical dependence (withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety occuring when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking), and
–Tolerance (the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol in order to “get high”).

Is alcoholism a disability under the ADA?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not contain a list of medical conditions that constitute disabilities. Instead, the ADA says a person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alcoholism is an impairment. Therefore, people with alcoholism who are substantially limited in a major life activity will have a disability under the ADA.

However, even if a person with alcoholism meets the definition of disability, an employer may discipline, discharge, or deny employment to an alcoholic whose current use of alcohol adversely affects job performance or conduct to the extent that he or she is not “qualified,” or if the person’s presence creates an “undue hardship” for the employer.

Does an employer have to allow use of alcohol at work as an accommodation?
No. The ADA specifically provides that an employer may prohibit the use of alcohol in the workplace and require that employees not be under the influence of alcohol.

Are tests for alcohol use considered medical tests under the ADA? Yes. Blood, urine, and breath analyses to check for alcohol use are considered medical exams and, therefore, are subject to ADA limitations. According to the EEOC, an employer’s ability to make disability-related inquiries or require medical examinations is analyzed in three stages: pre-offer, post-offer, and employment.

Pre-offer, the ADA prohibits all disability-related inquiries and medical examinations, even if they are related to the job.

Post-offer (after an applicant is given a conditional job offer, but before he or she starts work), an employer may make disability-related inquiries and conduct medical examinations, regardless of whether they are related to the job, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same job category.

After employment begins, an employer may make disability-related inquiries and require medical examinations only if they are job-related and consistent with business necessity.

May an employer test an employee who has been off from work in an alcohol rehabilitation program?
Yes, according to the EEOC, but only if the employer has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that the employee will pose a direct threat in the absence of periodic testing. (Employers also may conduct periodic alcohol testing pursuant to “last chance” agreements.)

The determination of “reasonable belief of direct threat” requires individualized assessment of the employee and his or her position and cannot be based on general assumptions. One example might be a bus driver with only a few months’ experience who returns to work after 4 months of rehabilitation and counseling.

Given the safety risks associated with the bus driver’s position, his short period of employment, and recent completion of rehabilitation, the employer can likely show that it would be job-related and consistent with business necessity to subject the driver to frequent periodic alcohol tests.

However, take the same situation except that the worker is clerical. Now it is not likely that the employee poses a direct threat, so the employer probably cannot show that periodic alcohol testing would be job-related and consistent with business necessity.

This article offers good advice, but as you can see the answers to drug and alcohol testing and the ADA are not always cut and dried. For this reason it’s a good idea to contact your HR Advisor at A Plus Benefits before conducting any non-accident drug and alcohol testing.

Thanks for reading our blog.
Randall Barker SPHE CELS, is the VP of Human Resources for A Plus Benefits, Inc.

None of us are perfect. No matter how hard we try, weird things creep into the workplace.

Below, Scarlett Pruitt, brings to light 10 Signs of a Dysfunctional Workplace. I’ve added some comments because it’s great having the last word.

Can you see anything below that resembles your workplace?

1. Nothing can get done without the boss’s approval. Empower your organization by delegating, says Pruitt. There’s not much CEO work going on if the boss has to sign off on every little thing. And there’s a corollary …

1a. To get things done, you have to hide them from the boss. Now you know you’ve got a situation that is going to end badly.

The “Boss” sets the course and keeps the boat going in the right direction. If the boss can’t trust those whom he has hired to make daily decisions and when work is being done “in the dark” it won’t be long before employees will begin to abandon the ship. In short, the boss must allow people to do what they were hired to do. Bosses who micro-manage are not being efficient.

2. Who is the boss? The structure may be clear on paper, but no one knows who really makes the decisions. Everybody benefits from clarifying decision-making responsibilities.

An “empowered” employee must be allowed to use the power/responsibility that has been delegated to the individual. When a person is empowered by the boss and then not allowed to use the authority given, the message that is sent is…I don’t trust you, I’m afraid you’ll make a mistake. And the biggest mistake…the boss not trusting the employee.

3. Do-nothing meetings. If a meeting has no agenda or just rehashes previous discussions, axe it. And again, a corollary:

3a. IMing during meetings. Meetings are for brainstorming and discussing, not “snarky IM conversations,” says Pruitt. “Pull the plug” on cell phones.

I once worked for a company that became famous for the muffins that were served at meetings. I didn’t have to worry about breakfast or lunch because I knew that I was going to be in at least 2 meetings during the day where muffins would be the most important thing at the meeting. Some very successful companies have meetings standing up (get ‘er done). Use an agenda, if there is nothing on the agenda, cancel the meeting.

4. Cubicle co-workers IM instead of talking. Some topics require face-to-face discussion. Arrange some meetings (but don’t forget rule number 3.)

Please do some interactive things between departments. Allow employees the opportunity of building some interdepartmental relationships. And remember, if your department managers do not have good working relationships with other department managers you have an obstacle that is preventing your business from being great. The Boss must provide opportunities for department managers to build relationships. And Boss…never talk poorly about a department manager to another department manager, keep your complaints about department managers within your executive group.

5. There’s more than one “secret couple” around. They usually don’t stay secret for long, and tension and drama (and lawsuits) result if there is perceived favoritism. Write a policy and enforce it.

Those with authority can never date subordinates. You might know of some isolated examples of manager-subordinate relationships working out. However, the chance of this kind of relationship going bad is huge. Don’t allow it. As said above, make a rule against this kind of thing and enforce it.

6. IT rules are so tight that you’re not told your own password. Tech security is important, but there are limits. Find a reasonable middle ground.

How many hoops do your employees have to jump through to do their job? If your IT Department requires employees to dig tunnels, climb walls and break down metal doors to just start working, way too much time is being wasted. If nothing can get done without the IT Department being involved, you’ve given too much authority to IT and in fact IT is running the business. That’s not going to work long term.

7. There’s a “wall of shame” where employee mess-ups are posted and highlighted for the entire world to see. “Rewards should be public, but chastisement should be private,” Pruitt says.

Okay, do you want to instill fear into every employee? Just punish an employee in public and you’ll have every one afraid that they are next. If you have a manager who believes it’s effective to punish in public you are on the course to a law suit. A good manager does not make himself look big by making his staff look small. If someone in your organization is doing this, demand a change or find a new person who will not manage with fear.

8. The boss screams at staffers, for example, when there’s skim milk instead of half-and-half for the coffee. Authority should never be used to bully or intimidate. Counsel or call in the consultants.

Management rule #1 - Never yell unless the building is on fire.

9. Everyone has 10 weeks of accumulated vacation because no one can take a day off. “People are not machines,” says Pruitt. “Encourage them to take vacations, or they are likely to walk out one day and not come back.”

You know what all work and no play does to “Jack.” Of course there are times when you need all hands on deck. A special project, an emergency, etc. Time away from work is important. Want to impress an employee with how much you appreciate the person? Give the person an extra day off now and then. Send a group to the movie, close the shop for the afternoon and take everyone to the movie. The hero will be the person that showed appreciation to the staff, not the high priced actor on the screen.

10. What matters is not what you get done, but how many hours you are seen “working.” Don’t be impressed by the person who arrives early and leaves late just for show. Reward productivity, not hours, says Pruitt.

In order to know who is getting it done you have to go out and see it for yourself. The best thing a manager can do is to get out from behind the desk and go do the work with the staff. Give your employees an opportunity to show you what they can do, the result of spending time with staff is that they will show you a better way to get it done, ignore them and they will eventually go show the competition a better way to get it done.

Randall Barker is the VP of Human Resources at A Plus Benefits, Inc.

In every small businessman’s career there comes a time when thoughts must be turned to an exit strategy. That is, what is the end game? How will you cash out? Will you cash out? Will you leave your business as an inheritance to children or other family members? Whatever the plan or strategy for moving out of your business, it is critical that you have an understanding of what your business is worth.

There are a number of different methods for valuing a business. This blog represents the first of three blogs intended to entertain a high-level discussion of three commonly used valuation methodologies: Cost, Discounted Cash Flow and Price/Characteristics Ratios. The Cost Methodology will be discussed first.

The cost method of valuation involves two steps. First the business owner or hired consultant must assess the cost to replicate existing assets.
There are four ways to determine the replacement value of existing assets. The method chosen depends on the nature of the assets and the reason for the valuation.

1. Book – The book method is relatively straight forward and would be accomplished by taking the value of assets from the balance sheet less accumulated depreciation. Any good accountant should be able to help with this relatively simple approach. The book value method would be most effective if the business was recently purchased, thus the assets would theoretically reflect current market values.
2. Adjust Asset – The adjusted asset method requires analysis of each asset on the balance sheet and would be helpful if book values are significantly different than market values. With this approach the consultant would take the book value of say a piece of land. He would then assess the market value of the land and adjust the book value to reflect current market values. This approach can be very time consuming.
3. Liquidation – Similar to the adjusted asset method, the liquidation method seeks to understand the value of each asset. However, with the liquidation method the consultant is not concerned with market value rather contingent, contingent on bankruptcy, value. This approach may be most likely used by a banker to determine what the value of a business’ assets would be if the business were to go bankrupt. Value determined by this approach will clearly be less than adjusted value.
4. Replacement – This method of determining replication cost seeks to ascertain the required cost to replace existing assets using current technology. For example if a high-tech manufacturer has an existing plant that it built 5 years ago for $1.0M but, with technological advances could build the same plant for $0.8M, the building would be valued at $0.8M. This approach of determining replication value would be best used in industries where technology has dramatically changed the cost to replace assets.

The second and final step of the Cost method is to assess the value of a company’s intangibles. Intangibles might include brand recognition, favorable relationships with clients or customers, experience and knowledge. Not all intangibles are positive. For example a pending lawsuit would be a negative intangible. After all intangible values are assessed they can be added or subtracted from total replication cost to determine the Cost of the business.

Due to the subjectivity and difficulty of determining the value of intangibles and at times the inability of accurately determining the value of fixed assets, the cost approach should be used with some hesitation. But at the same time can serve as a good exercise to understand the true value of company assets.

Richard Zollinger is a finance manager at American Express.

I had lunch with the CEO of a technology firm the other day. Among other things, we talked for a while about the tactics he is implementing within his organization to position it for long term success. As he has recently taken the company reigns, he has been spending a fair amount of his time developing the long term strategy for the company. His excitement for the business and its future was contagious and it reminded me of why I wanted to open the A Plus Benefits’ Idaho office.

After leaving our meeting I thought about several other CEOs that I’ve met over the years and realized that after the initial start up phase, very few of them consistently sit down to consider their company’s long term strategy. Mostly because they were so mired in time sensitive tasks.

After witnessing first hand the many daily challenges associated with operating a business I can relate to the difficulty of finding the time to develop a good strategy. Here are five ideas for those business owners that are also struggling to find enough time to work on their business strategy.

1. Once every few years get out of the office for an executive retreat. This will remove you from the daily grind and allow you to think about the bigger picture.
2. Recruit a client advisory board to provide outside perspective into business operations. This will also help you prove to your clients that you care about their feedback and are willing to improve their experience with your company.
3. Take a small group of employees to lunch once a month. No, not the same group you go to lunch with every other day. Take a few of the employees that just started working for the company in one of the “front line” jobs. Not only will these folks provide you with some great ideas, but they’ll feel appreciated and valued in their role.
4. Begin having a cup of Hot Cocoa with another business owner once a month. Bounce ideas off of each other and consider how their proven strategies could be adapted to your industry.
5. Block a few hours out on your calendar to work on strategy and then rigorously defend that time. I think this works best when you actually leave the office. Shut off your cell phone and exclude yourself for a bit.

Most business owners didn’t go into business for the daily grind. Almost all that I’ve met felt like they had unique strategies for an industry that, in their view, could use some improvement. They opened their doors to revolutionize the industry and are now so bogged down in minutia that work has lost a bit of its excitement. In addition, because they haven’t been able to focus on the strategy, many of their businesses have become mirror images of the model they wanted to change.

By focusing on the big picture, businesses continue to adjust and evolve to changing industry forces and business owners are able to focus on the real reasons they went into business.

Jake Lunt is the General Manager of Idaho operations for A Plus Benefits, Inc.

Motivating employees is challenging for every employer. Many small businesses simply can’t afford to give large cash bonuses to reward employee performance. If you are an owner of one of these businesses there is good news. A recent study produced by Workforce Management asked employees “What factor most attracted you to your current position?” Only six percent of respondents said compensation was the factor. In fact, there was only one response that ranked lower then this and eight categories that had higher response rates.

The results of this study show that there are several low cost options for the frugal business owner who wants to offer employee rewards.

Here are a couple ideas: If you are trying to inspire the hard work of a sales team create a monthly competition where the winner receives a small reward and is honored in staff meeting. If an administrative employee is producing particularly good work have the CEO take him to lunch. If a customer support employee has done something extraordinary recognize them in a company newsletter.

Understanding that most employees are attracted to their current position for reasons other than money is critical to developing a motivation plan that is both cost effective and productive. Simply doing something that is thoughtful and that displays appreciation often goes further than a few extra dollars.

Samantha Bushard is an HR employee for the Idaho office of A Plus Benefits, Inc.