what to do?

HRinGA · March 2007

I have an employee who we "think" may be popping a few too many percocet pills. She tends to be out "sick" during deadlines. Granted, deadline time is very hectic and stressful and we think that the stress may very well make her sick. But her behavior gets strange sometimes. Example, she reports to work early one day (6am) and seems fine throughout the morning. Right after lunch, her speech gets a little slurry and, for lack of a better term, she gets a little loopy. One of her co-workers states she saw her take a pill while eating lunch. Last time she was out, we asked for a doctor's note, which she produced. My personal thoughts are she can't handle the stress, that the stress does really make her ill. She's had surgery, hence the pain pill theory. We know she has taken them, she tends to speak freely about personal matters. The manager is at his wit's end. She's always out at critical times. This is a small staff, so when she is out, it creates a hardship. What to do? What to do? She may have a problem, or we're way off base and have too many assumptions. I advised to deal with this strictly as an attendance issue, but when her behavior gets a little odd, people get uncomfortable and I suspect this will all blow up in my face. Your thoughts on the matter?

Susan in La · March 2007

Do you have a drug free workplace policy? If so does it allow you to test for reasonable suspicion? If her speech is slurred and she is acting "loopy" that would constitute reasonable suspicion and you could send her for drug testing to determine if she is on legal medication prescribed for her. If she is, you could ask for a physician's statement about her ability to work while under the influence of her medication. It doesn't really solve your attendance problem, but if it is an FMLA issue you can use up her 12 weeks and then determine if you can keep her on if the problem persists. On the other hand, if she is taking medication that is either illegal or prescribed for someone else, you have grounds for termination.

sonny · March 2007

I agree with Susan if you have a drug free work place. We are in the middle of the same problem with a 911 Dispatcher. Very scary. In her case, she was taking a time released pain reliever so she would come to work fine and then start exhibiting behavior after a few hours. We called her in and said we were concerned. She denied taking any medication, we said sorry, drug test it is. Oh, says she. I forgot to tell you I was taking morphine and oxycodene. Sent for drug test. Legally prescribed. Adds valium, ambien and zoloft to list. Send for fitness for duty. Looks like she is going to pass. She will likely return, be placed on a Last Chance agreement and disciplined for failure to disclose prescribed medication that can affect her performance and lying. Gonna watch her like a hawk. Assuming ALL are legal and legit, what the HELL are these Dr.'s thinking??? Sorry for the ramble. I would caution you against making too many assumptions.

stilldazed · March 2007

Separate what you know from what you think and take care to keep from making too many assumptions. My perspective and steps might be slightly different and have worked for my instances with similar circumstances. Instead of presuming reasonable suspicion, which is legal and gives you the opportunity to question/test and whatever, take the same set of suspicious circumstances and presume a potential medical event, because the fact is that you probably really don't know. Send her out of the workplace to see her physician and require a medical clearance to RTW. I have taken that set of steps twice, and my company was relieved after the fact. Both of the situations gave the appearance of drug use/abuse, but the workers' physicians documented an adverse reaction to prescription medication and instituted a different management plan, which helped the worker. One of the situations included a supervisor who was aggressively going for drug testing and termination. The fact in that particular case was a worker who self-discontinued an antipsychotic and had something akin to seizures but without the falling out part. The worker would have short episodes (5 min or less) of blankness, nonsensical verbalizations, and inability to recall just after the episode details that she would document in patient records during the episode. As it turns out, there was a personal issue between the supervisor and worker, the supervisor wanted the worker terminated and was trying to use a perceived 'drug use' issue as the means. With my steps, we eventually terminated the worker for the right reasons, had documentation in place for the right reasons, and covered ourselves with the drug issue by not imposing ourselves as an obstacle in what turned out to be a true medical need. It was a little time consuming, and I ruffled feathers at the time, but it proved to be the right thing to do and we were able to carry the situation to a level that recognized the facts vs. hearsay/presumptions and respond fairly instead of jaded by emotion.

Best wishes.

HRVolley · March 2007

I agree with Stilldazed, that the supposed pill popping might not be the first place to start. We have had two individuals that came back after a medical procedure and were on some very heavy medications. We noticed some odd behavior and more than normal absences. We addressed the absences, and asked if more FMLA was needed to take care of a personal medical issue, or if there were additional facts we needed to know.
In both cases the ee revealed that they were on some heavy medications. We expressed our concern for their safety and the safety of others, and asked them to go back to the doctor and review the necessity of their medications. So far, no more issues.
This is a more touchy/feely approach, but it sticks to the facts of being absent when their presence is needed.

what to do?

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