The word Fentanyl says all I need to know

He's a liability from an insurance point of view, miight be time to cut him loose.

If someone in his 40's is still doing hard drugs it's a life style and and more than likely not willing to stop.
You could sit him down and give him one chance but he will be placed on a random drug test schedule at your request. Drug test now a days isn't just pee in the bottle, they take hair samples and results go back 90 days as to what's in your system. I had this when we were driving company vehicles for insurance purposes in my career.

Lets see; He was sent to prison for drugs (must have been a lot of drugs or a lot of other bad things prior that went a long with the drugs that warranted being sent to prison)
It appears he lied to you about still doing drugs, maybe he does not use drugs, just Deals Drugs? He gets arrested again for running from the police and busted with the drug Fentanyl that is killing more Americans than anything else.

He probably poses a serious liability to your business if he causes an accident while on the job and the fact that you knew about his past and present legal problems.

He is a cancer that needs to be removed!

He ran from the cops as he was afraid of being arrested and then fired.

If he was not doing anything wrong, then he had no reason to run from the cops.

its is an at will state, but there are two protections; EEOC and Americans with disabilities act…. If his Employee shows up Monday says I have a drug problem and getting rehab, Good luck firing him W/out repercussions.

Best to fire him before he can tell you about his drug problem

Should you wait until he gets convicted?

This is really bad advice. OP has a chance to terminate him for cause, which will allow him to block the employee from drawing unemployment. ANY sort of $ on the way out gives the employee a big chance of drawing unemployment. I've been on some of those calls with TWC and you better have everything you can on your side to win the fight.

And does it make it better if he illegally obtained hydro instead of fentanyl? He's still a druggy and a liability.

Who gives rats [censored] about the man getting unemployment? I have never cared a bit about that and have fired people who then went and got it. It is part of not being a petty bitch.

I asked what I asked because fentanyl is currently the boogie man that everyone is worked up about but several people on this board with law enforcement backgrounds and experience are saying that fentanyl was coming in damn near everything.

He doesn't have cause because of an Arrest, he only has cause with conviction that violates handbook, and you have policy of not using federal bonds, or if he failed a drug test and drug testing was part of the handbook, no called no showed etc. In this case fire him as layoff and pay TWC, and make him sign a 2 day severance agreement with 100% release of liability: wash your hands of it. You hired him with a record already.

You are better of firing him with other documentation than just because he was arrested. Technically if he discloses he has a record in the interview process as the hiring manager you can not use that as part of the determining in the interview process, due to federal bonding. Its only at offer you can decline because he didnt meet posted background requirements

+1. Get rid of this idiot.

yep

Working with and relying on druggies can harm you and others. Not paying attention to the needs of his co-workers and providing them safety is an overwhelming burden and should of over riding concern.

Agree with BoBO's advice above. When you fire him, don't give him a reason. Just tell him he's terminated. In Texas you can simple say it's not working out, period. Don't give him any recourse against you for unlawful termination in the event he beats the charges.

My brother employed a kid who had a buddy shoot him in his bulletproof vest from a few feet away with 9mm pistol. The video went viral, ended up on Tosh.O, all that, but the kid was let go long before that. Sometimes stupidity is enough reason.

This.

Do not mention the arrest, drugs, or prison record. You are terminating him because it is not working out. If he pushes back or brings up he arrest, do not engage or even acknowledge that topic.

Document everything on your end. If you asked him about felony convictions or jail time, even if it was verbal, make written notes of the conversation. You told him drug use was not acceptable and ask him about it pre employment, he said he did not use hard drugs. Document that conversation. Document any other issues, no matter how minor. If his work is not par with rest of the your crew, document that also. If he showed up 5 min late for work, document that.
.
If he files an unemployment insurance claim, contest it. At that point you say he was fired for cause. "Lying about previous criminal history and a recent arrest for drugs" plus any work issues or tardiness.

He will be a month into the evading and drug bust arrest by that time he gets the denial from TEC. Chances are low that he will be willing to appeal when he gets denied.

If he does appeal being reminded for cause, arrest records support the evading arrest and drug charges. You also know that he did time for drugs and lied to you about it. There is a very good change the administrator hearing the case will deny his appeal.

becareful with previous arrests and convictions, Unless the employee handbook mandates a pre-employment background check with defined dequalifcations, His prior history can be protected, Its irrelevant if not a pre-disqualifier

Again Sewer, not advising you legally but from an experienced “safe” option is to not to fire for cause, as Im sure your documentation trail for record of performance/issue is lacking. Lay him off, give a minimal severance w/release of liability, and pay out TWC.


As facts stand is sounds like you dont have enough documentation to argue and win with TWC, but with that said he may not challenge it either. Nor may he sue in civil court as it sounds like he has enough legal troubles, but he could..

That may take a year or more.

3rd party companies are making money by publishing arrest information on the internet via their website (programmed so their website information are easily found at the top of google searches), then they effectively bribe (ransom) the arrested person to remove the information from their website. This happens to a lot of falsely attested people, and it does not get legally removed until officially expunged through the courts which can take year or more. During this time, innocent lives are ruined.

Just pay the guy to leave if you don't want him around. Ask him to resign and tell him that you will give a decent reference if another employer calls. If it cost you a month's pay to him then it is money well spent.

What exactly is the nature of the work you had him doing?

You'd lie and give a decent reference why? Make him someone else's problem - would that make you "feel" better?

Dont give a reference, you are liable, truth or not. Just confirm dates of employment.

You haven't had employees before have you? You can't talk bad about someone if someone calls for a reference without digging a deep hole for yourself. You just say when they worked and that they left on the own in a case like this. It isn't lying becausethe mans work performance was acceptable by the words of the man that he works for. The op of this thread wants to let the man go because of something that happened outside of his work. The goal here is to get the guy gone without raising a stink. Sounds like he has enough problems without a soon to be ex employer trying to twist the screws on him.

This. And I wouldn't give him a dime and I would fight any unemployment benefits. He made his bed...
I once terminated a lady on her B-day...a week before Christmas. BTW - it wasn't intentional, just worked out that way.