Good business owners know that their whole enterprise is based on trust and relationships. They trust their employees to work for them, and their workers expect to be paid by them. Customers have confidence that the company will provide them with at least a satisfactory level of service, and the business puts faith in the continued patronage of their clients. It would be a huge blow for the reputation of a business to suddenly know that one of their important employees is accused of a crime. What can you do about it?
Give Your Employee Options for Bail
It mostly depends on the company, but if it’s included in your company’s crisis management plans, then you can choose to give your employee options for bail. This can help release them, even temporarily, so that they can continue some of their services for the company or at least get to know the situation better. There’s the option of paying it yourself, but you may want to avail of a bail bonds service instead. You’ll only have to pay part of it, and there’s more reason to keep your employee going to court because of the contract involved.
Refrain From Suspending Immediately
You may think of suspending your employee immediately after knowing that they’re arrested or accused. But this is a bad idea, as you have to keep in mind that someone is innocent until proven guilty. Doing a knee-jerk reaction of kicking your employee out can open yourself up to a case against you, for dismissing them due to discrimination. Go against your impulse and keep them in your employment while the case is ongoing, even if you have to move them to another department in the process.
Help Authorities With the Investigation
The crime that your employee has committed may be related to your business. In that case, your company would likely be asked certain questions about your worker and how they have been doing. While you may care about your employee enough to want to try to defend them, it would still be the best option to be honest and provide the information that you can. You’re only dragging the rest of the business with you when you try to make a cover-up.
Make Your Own Investigation of Events
While the authorities are making their investigation, you can’t just assume that what they find out will be perfectly correct. You can’t even presume that the accusation is correct from the get-go either. No one’s stopping you from asking your own questions about the situation and doing your own fact-finding. It may also save your employee’s reputation if it turns out that they were wrongly accused. You can work with their lawyer in seeing the big picture and helping give your employee their rightful judgment.
No decent person wants to ever know about someone they trust being accused of a crime. This also goes for a reputable employer and their prized employee. But there’s always a chance that it might happen, so you’d want to be prepared and know what you can do and what you can’t.
