BJCC,
119.5 has made valid points, management, especially within the aviation industry, have a duty of care to their customers whether they be the punters down the back of the aircraft or the aircrafdt, crew and passengers within the airspace controlled by ATC.
The fact that a manager has allowed a personwho they believed to be working whilst under the influence of alcohol, contrary to national legislation, anmd thereby committing a criminal offenece is in essence negligent and should any incident have arisen because a controller or pilot was allowed to continue to work whilst a manager "suspected" they were committing said offence then in my opinion they are guilty of aiding and abetting said offence.
If you knowingly allow someone to drive your car believing that your insurance does not cover them to drive then you are guilty of committing the offence of aiding and abetting, the same scenario applies here.
Management at EGNM allowed this controller to continue working for 1 1/2 hours after this matter was drawn to their attention, in total 4 hours after arriving at work.
Alcohol is absorbed by the "average" person at a rate of 1/2 unit per hour, after 4 hours that equates to 2 units of alcohol, the legal limit for controlling / flying in the UK is 1/2 unit.
The Police should have been called immediately suspicion arose and a breath test required (subject to the officer having reasonable grounds to require a sample).
You cannot as a manager require an employee to be subject to a breath test and you cannot as a manager suspend a person who you believe has committed such an offence if you HAVE DONE NOTHING ABOUT IT WHEN YOU WERE FIRST MADE AWARE OF IT
119.5 has made very valid points.
My colleague at Yeadon has my full support and I wish them well with the ensuing battle with management to clear their name