No video. A supervisor said they saw him with his eyes closed and suggested he stand up if he was getting sleepy. The employee responded immediately and the supervisor believed he was not asleep. However, they went to the senior operator just to let them know what happened. It was determined that nothing would be done about the incident. However, another employee, not present, not even on shift, heard about it the next day and went to their supervisor to tell them about it. This was sent to management and they opened an investigation. The supervisor maintains that they do not believe they were asleep, but was pretty close. I pushed management for witnesses and they continue to say they don't need to disclose their witness list. I think they are trying to find anything, however, the only person that saw this is still saying they don't believe they were asleep. I think one of two things are happening: 1) Management has nothing and is stringing the employee along, or 2) They want to make an example of the employee and are using some intimidation. They are trying to get some type of confession from the employee and is making him sweat so that he'll sign it.
I've told the employee to never meet with management without representation and he should not sign anything until I can read it. I think they are simply trying to bully their way to a reprimand or suspension. I hope I've made enough noise to make them think twice. I think what they are doing is unethical since company policy punishes conveying false testimony which is what the other employee (on another shift) did when he heard about this and went to his supervisors. Unfortunately, the manager and this other employee are friends. I'm contemplating filing a grievance against the rumor spreader to push our position. He is not covered under the CBA since he works for a subsidiary of our employer.
This situation is a bit muddled because of all the different companies involved. We work for a FAA contractor. The initial incident involved our contract employee and a FAA supervisor. The rumor-spreader works for a sub-contractor of our company. As far as I'm concerned, if the FAA supervisor is not pursuing this issue, then our employer shouldn't either. I think our company is scared of the FAA, even though they dropped the issue a day before the manager was notified. Sounds like a little CYA and retaliation to the employee is playing out right now. I won't let that happen. I will demand our company show us a statement from the FAA supervisor that I know does not exist.
However, I would still like to see the list of people they questioned over this incident. I believe they would lie to find an easy way out of this problem. They over-reacted and will do whatever they need to do to save face.
