Insubordinate Employee with Criminal History

[Stephanie70]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: VA

I am a manager in a local office of a large company that operates in many states.

Our office has not been open for very long, and we are already having serious issues with one employee. So far, he has done the following:
1) Not known his schedule, resulting in late arrivals and leaving early
2) Used his cell phone in the office, despite being told not to (and being written up for it)
3) Not performing assigned duties, and doing certain tasks incorrectly, repeatedly (I have instructed him many times and in many different ways and he still does not complete assignments correctly - he either leaves sections blank, or does them incorrectly)
4) Using the work computer for personal use
5) Searching for clients on Facebook, etc (violation of privacy per our industry and company policies)
6) Lied about lunch break times
7) Does not read nor respond to work email
8) Not clocked out, and not entering correct hours in payroll system
9) Does not write down phone messages for other employees, and has forgotten/neglected to tell us about calls altogether
10) Made inappropriate comments to a female co-worker several times.

This employee has missed work 3 times in one month for court dates. He told us that he got pulled over for a vehicle repair issue (we have never asked him what the court dates were for). However...he used the work computer to search "embezzlement penalties" and the local city court docket, which I saw in the browser search box. This, combined with his time off for court dates, prompted me to search the city court dockets online from my home computer that evening. I found that he has an embezzlement hearing scheduled in about a month, and a court appearance for driving on a suspended license, 3rd offense about a month after that (that carries a minimum mandatory 10 day jail sentence in VA).

This employee appears to be a con man...whenever we meet with him to discuss performance issues, he apologizes and says he will work on things, or plays dumb, or makes excuses.

He has access to financial information for the company and the clients.

He claims he will work on performance issues, but keeps doing the same things over and over.

A big problem: I am intimidated by him. Two of our corporate trainers told me to be careful; that they do not trust this person and they think he has the potential to have an anger problem. We often work alone. The other employee in our office is afraid of him, and sometimes they have to work alone.

I have directed problems to my manager several times, and he has reported the issues to HR and our corporate office. They just want me to keep talking to him and keep documenting everything.

At what point is enough, enough? I love my job, but I have been thinking about leaving because I am so uncomfortable with this situation. I resent having to deal with this person. Supposedly a background investigation was conducted on all of us, but how did he slip through? He was arrested for the two crimes I referenced after he was hired (and is out on bail/bond!), but he has a rap sheet that goes on for years...

What does it take for something like this to be resolved? I'm not getting answers and feel like the burden of handling this is all on me, and I'm worried about retaliation if/when this person is terminated.

Help, please. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

[eerelations]

Normally I'd just say fire this guy, however, if HR and your corporate office are saying no, then you can't. Unfortunately, I'm not a mind reader so I have no idea why they're saying no. You need to ask them.

[Stephanie70]

Normally I'd just say fire this guy, however, if HR and your corporate office are saying no, then you can't. Unfortunately, I'm not a mind reader so I have no idea why they're saying no. You need to ask them.

It appears that they are worried about getting sued. They will fire him, but they are waiting too long IMO. In the meantime, I have to deal with all the lying, errors, etc...

[eerelations]

There really isn't anything you can do. If you do anything different from what corporate is telling you to do, then you'll be the one who's insubordinate.

[cbg]

If you are asking at what point the employer is mandated by law to fire him, the answer is, never.

If you are asking at what point the employer is mandated by law to discipline him, the answer is still never.

If you are asking at what point the employer is mandated by law to take action, the answer is, when he does something illegal. Not a violation of company policy; a violation of a law.

[AZDeputyClerk]

It appears that they are worried about getting sued. They will fire him, but they are waiting too long IMO. In the meantime, I have to deal with all the lying, errors, etc...

As the others have said, if HR and corporate say not to do anything but document the employee's actions, that's all you can do BUT you can make certain to document YOUR actions in reporting each incident up the chain of command. If you decide to stay with your employer and something does come up later, the paper trail may be useful in protecting yourself.