The higher ups in your organization clearly don’t listen to managers of his level regardless of facts, what generally convinces them to listen to leaders of your level? I suspect reality doesn’t move them so I’m not sure what we can recommend.

A lot depends on which toe?.......

I don't think you're really expected to "succeed" here, or even to do all that much to actually clean up this mess. You're just sparing Al's old boss(es) from having to try. When Al finishes doing his 6 weeks, anything that doesn't work out in the aftermath will simply be blamed on him, probably no loss to you, as long as you don't force his old boss to make any unpleasant conclusions from the whole experience.

Does this answer your question? Insubordinate chief engineer training colleagues to be "too mobile" out of spite This is a question that seems to come up before - the tiny detail change but the general gist is the same: "we screwed our best engineer, now what do we do?"

There is a looming issue. You do not work AT a company. You work FOR a company that has a recurring habit of hiring small armies of under-trained and under-skilled junior engineers. Do you identify with this style?

"I think he literally broke one of his toes to buy himself a week of time ..." - You should be really careful making such a serious accusation. I agree his excuses sound fishy, but you have to be careful what you say. Making such accusations without concrete proof could land you into trouble. Better stick to facts. And brush up your CV.

He's asking for garden leave, after the company screwed him over. For the love of god, at least let things end somewhat gracefully and give him the requested leave. You get pushback from above? Just take it.

"We need him …" You do?! ("You" refers to the company here, I feel for you the person having to handle this mess.) Then why did "you" decide to screw him over? Really, this is yet another installment of our series of questions on "we screwed this star employee who we can't do without, what now?". Humanity would be helped tremendously if those questions became mandatory training for any higher-ups. ;-)

I very much doubt they broke their toe on purpose. That would be a crime (probably insurance fraud if an insurance is covering the costs) and damn painful. Nobody does that just to get a week off. They could just have said they have "headaches". Easy to have, impossible to disprove. I can imagine a really motivated Ace engineer to work through a broken toe despite the pain though. And that motivation is lost. They behave like any other person now.

There's nothing wrong with hiring very green candidates, it's a great way to develop talent in-house. I think I can even guess which company this is because of the scale (I won't say). What it means, however, is that "ace's" need to take up the role of training and mentoring. It's not for everyone, and clearly the ace mentioned here is not up to the task. I would even say that the ace is as much a "control-freak" as the company-- not willing to adapt, integrate, or negotiate his so-called "dream team" approach.

I think the fact that any company has 8000 engineers and isn't actually building interstellar starships or fleets upon fleets of Teslas just confirms my suspicion that the company is not really an engineering company and probably has a different underlying business model, which when understood would explain the seemingly irrational behaviour of the directors.

+1 I like the story, TWP has some of the best stories around. @nvoigt “I very much doubt they broke their toe on purpose” On the other foot,... how would management or an insurance company prove that someone broke their toe on purpose? A broken toe, whether it's self inflicted on not, is always going to be painful. It's easier to fake a headache, maybe even a migraine, but without a doctor's certificate there's little likelihood of getting a week's sick pay.

Well, you'd definitely get a doctors note for headaches, I mean what is the doctor supposed to do, say "no you don't, get out of my practice"?

Paging Scott Adams....

Welcome new user. I would urge you to make the question much shorter.

@nvoigt but isn't a headache easier to fake? Unless it's been a regular occurance, and A1 has a history of the illness, a suddenly crippling and debilitating migraine will look more suspicious than an actual broken toe that can be proven with x rays, scans etc. A1, if breaking a toe was deliberate–and let's say it was the little toe–chose one of the human bones that has the least problems. Disclaimer: I am not an orthopaedist!

@Mari-LouA I'm actually more puzzled that a broken toe is a barrier to do work... presumably in front of a desk.

@GregoryCurrie A1 can't work from home because of " internet issues" and he definitely can't drive the car to the hotel...but could take a taxi I suppose. And the pain of a broken toe is very legitimate.

@Mari-LouA I agree, been there myself. I'm just suggesting a broken toe, by itself, doesn't seem like much of an excuse, beyond a day to get it treated, etc.

@Mari-LouA "a suddenly crippling and debilitating migraine will look more suspicious than an actual broken toe" maybe, but it's certainly better to look suspicious than to break your own bones. Looking suspicious is of no consequence. Where I live, judges would probably say "no wonder they had headaches, with all the stress they went through". And as this thread shows, even if you have an injury that can be xrayed and proven, the manager is still suspicious. I bet if they died, someone in the company will be like "they did that on purpose".