HR: when a employee comes to work drunk

The trader, Steven Perkins, was, not to put to fine a point on it, completely whacked when he turned up for work on 29th June last year. Perkins says he was drunk when he arrived at work on Monday morning; then went out and continued drinking from Monday lunchtime, going home from where he made further trades.

In a 19 hour period on 29 and 30 June, he made so many trades - totalling some 7 million barrels - that he created an upswing in the price of Brent Crude.

For part of his spree, he was responsible for 69% of trades in Brent Crude. He claimed to be trading on behalf of a client which the FSA has not identified. The client found - to his surprise - that he had a position worth USD8 million.

The volume of the trades, according to the FSA, was such that it created a "false and misleading impression as to the supply, demand and price."

The problem was discovered during July by Perkins' employer PVM which promptly suspended him.

Perkins has been banned from trading in the City for five years and fined GBP72,000. The FSA said it would have fined him GBP150,000 but that would have caused undue hardship. The fine is to be paid in monthly instalments at the rate of GBP2,000 per month for three years. The FSA says that it hopes that Perkins will use the five year ban to rehabilitate himself :"In July 2009, Mr Perkins joined a rehabilitation programme for alcoholics and since that time has stopped drinking. For this reason, the FSA considers that it is possible that Mr Perkins may be rehabilitated over time and may be fit and proper again in the future. Therefore, the prohibition is expressed to be for a minimum period of five years, at which point the FSA may be minded to revoke the prohibition."

But for HR / Personnel teams, the case raises a spectacular problem: when an alcoholic member of staff persistently lies and covers up his problem, how do you deal with it.

And should having access to work computer systems be a privilege rather than the norm and, if so, what tests / standards should apply?