It has been found out that several employees of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department have been involved in irregular work ethics. Investigations reveal that on regular basis, two of its foremen have absented themselves from work without permission. Mr. Lee confirmed that he usually went to visit his family in Shenzhen, but after finishing his daily duties that included field visits and cleaning equipment.
His absence from work summed up to 500 hours. He also claims that the attendance book was left unattended and thus he filled in information in the absence of the receptionist attendant. Mr. Tang offences include going on unpermitted medical leave and filling in the attendance records a day after.
He claimed that he preferred a herbal doctor in Shenzhen for his cancer treatment and produced a medical certificate as testament to that. He usually filled in the record book the following day. His total absent time from work was 1500 hours. During the investigation the supervisors confirmed that they were not aware of such absenteeism and that they had not given any permission to the two foremen at any given time.
According to the Civil Service Regulations (1291), Mr. Tang is thus liable to disciplinary action. Even though his work was affected by his poor health, he had failed to produce the relevant permissible medical documents as proof (Medical certificates from herbal clinics are not permissible).
He also filled in the attendance book a day after. Mr. Lee is also liable to punishment as he left the work place without permission to visit his wife. Even though he did it after finishing his work, he did not seek permission from his supervisors. He also falsified his attendance time. The supervisors and the front office attendant failed to execute their supervisory roles as they did not execute the department’s policy on absenteeism (Reese 69). This too is professional misconduct and liable to punishment.
According to the Public Service (Administration) Order, these constitute serious as it involves a repetition of an offence and punishable. The supervisors and the receptionist carry the biggest burden of blame in this case. It is their professional irresponsibility that facilitated the offences of the two foremen.
They should be demoted. Mr. Lee and Mr. Tang should be fined an equivalent amount to the time lost, as they did commit the offences willingly. The financial penalty should be accompanied by a official written warning of the consequences if the offences are repeated in future.
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department should take the following action to avoid such occurrences in future. Reese suggest that supervisors should be should work under senior supervisors (70).
This will ensure that they are also accountable for their actions. The supervisors and the senior supervisors should also monitor the attendance book daily; at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. there should also be immediate disciplinary measurers for such minor offences such as late coming. Lastly train employees on the need to be accountable for their actions (PRITTS para 11). This will ensure that employees report well in time for work and supervisors are accountable.
Works Cited
Pritts, Craig. Achieving Employee Accountability. Smart Business. 2007. Web.
Reese, Charles. Accidents/ Incidents Prevention Techniques, crcnetbase. 2001. Web.