Never had such a crazy person before
Hello all, this is the first time I’m encountering this in my 10 years leading others. Looking for advice.
We have a newer employee who is strategically crazy. They apparently have a severe food allergy and stated they were experiencing a reaction due to another person on the floor’s lunch containing the allergen. This happened during their first few weeks of training and they went home.
A week later this person approached me while actively wheezing stating they were being subjected to their allergen again, but they were not willing to leave work due to the missed time it would cause. I expressed they needed to leave if they weren’t okay and I could call for emergency medical services if needed.
They took a Benadryl and calmed down in an empty office, I set up a workstation at another desk in a different area, and I thought that was that. I was attempting to minimize the distraction to others this was causing - someone loudly wheezing and making a scene in the middle of the office.
Next thing I know, this person has an HR accommodation to work from home for two weeks until a long-term accommodation can be figured out and paperwork can be obtained. This person is not yet trained on their role, and because it involves phone support for customers, it is very difficult to progress without in-person attendance. Our training model requires collaboration with seasoned employees and live call shadowing, which can’t be done remotely with our phone system. My manager and I tried to push back on the WFH accommodation, but as you know, manager hands are often tied when HR makes such decisions.
This employee has also made numerous complaints to HR during this time about our trainers, various managers and supervisors, and other new hires. There were a total of five complaints within the first 30 days of employment before this incident occurred. HR has expressed they know this is all bs but advised we handle this situation carefully. I have had employees with medical accommodations that were both legitimate and seemingly bs before. I have had to deal with HR complaints before. I have never had someone be so openly crazy so soon before, though. Not sure how to handle this other than try to manage them out on performance before their probation period is up. Any thoughts?