Q: I work in a county government agency with a co-worker, “Pam,” who is crazy. Pam’s mental state is so deteriorated that she has been placed in an empty office where she cries and screams all day. She keeps yelling things like “I am not a murderer” and “I never killed anyone.”
Recently, Pam has become very suspicious. She has accused several co-workers of talking about her and calling her a killer. She believes that her home and computer are bugged and that county employees are following her. I have tried to be understanding and caring, but now Pam accuses me of watching her.
The human resources manager says there’s nothing management can do about this. Our boss sometimes sends Pam home, but he can’t do that every day. The rest of us are sick of the drama and concerned for our safety. We’ve shared our fears with management, but nothing changes. Is there anything we can do?
A:
This is ridiculous. No employer is required to tolerate an employee who is both highly disruptive and quite possibly psychotic. If your managers are worried about legal liability, their real concern should be what happens if they fail to act and someone is harmed as a result.
Since your HR manager appears to be totally useless, you and your colleagues should contact the county’s legal department. An attorney with experience in employment law can advise your agency head about the proper way to handle this situation. Before taking any action with Pam, management should also consult with security and mental health experts to insure that no one gets hurt.
For your own safety, you must minimize contact with this deranged woman. Remain pleasant and friendly, but keep your distance. As you have already seen, people with paranoid tendencies frequently incorporate those around them into their sinister fantasies, so you want to avoid becoming part of Pam’s delusional system.
Q:
Are applicants required to tell a potential future employer that they were terminated from their previous job? If so, how should this be done?
A:
In an interview, you are under no obligation to reveal the fact that you were fired. At the same time, however, you never want to lie during a job search. To walk this fine line, you need to realize that there can be many honest answers to the same question.
One way to avoid this dilemma altogether is to reach agreement with your former employer on what reference checkers will be told. Despite your termination, management may have no desire to interfere with your reemployment. They might therefore be willing to describe your departure as a resignation.
If this option is not realistic, then you will need to devise a suitable explanation along the lines of, “We agreed to part ways because it wasn’t a good fit.” Your objective is to avoid giving the interviewer a reason to worry, so you must craft a response that doesn’t raise any bright red flags about either your competence or your attitude.
