Addiction not as acute as in other cases: Arbitrator
A long-time registered nurse was fired after being caught stealing pills while working at Cambridge Memorial Hospital in Ontario.
The nurse — identified only as “SM” — had more than 28 years of experience at the hospital and was about to be considered for a promotion when her thefts were discovered.
On Aug. 15, 2014, another colleague noticed that pills were being removed from an Omni Cell, which is a computerized vending machine that dispenses pills. Nurses had to punch in a passcode and a patient’s name before the drugs were released to the nurse.
The manager of the emergency department, Susan Harris-Howe, was told about SM’s potential actions, so she conducted an audit to determine if it was a problem. Initially, it was discovered that the thefts had gone back to 2011. Later, it was determined thefts were taking place from as far back as 2003.
On Aug. 21, the employer confronted SM about it. After first she denied any wrongdoing, but upon further pressing, she admitted she was addicted to the pills and was taking them illegally.
SM then went on long-term disability leave until September 2015. During that time, she attended an in-patient drug treatment facility before being released.
She was given a set of restrictions imposed by the College of Nurses of Ontario, which included regular testing to prove she wasn’t taking any pills.
On Oct. 22, 2015, SM met with hospital management. A termination letter was given on Nov. 2 and it read in part: “You admitted to engaging in a pattern of theft of narcotics (stealing 2 to 6 Percocet tabs per shift, sometimes diverting them from patients and falsifying the (records) to conceal the theft).”
SM and the union, the Ontario Nurses’ Association, grieved the dismissal, arguing she was being discriminated against due to her addiction.
But arbitrator Dana Randall disagreed. “(SM) was unable to own up to the full extent of her misconduct, which I found very problematic. Being cured of an addiction requires full ownership of the misconduct, which I find, especially with respect to her history of Tylenol 3 thefts, she was unable to do.”
The addiction in this case was not as egregious as other cases, said Randall, whereby a termination was reversed due to discrimination.
“But in my view, which is consonant with the doctor’s evidence, there are degrees of addiction. SM’s addiction, based on her own evidence, was not compulsive.
She did not use at work. She went on vacation for one or two weeks without using. She suffered little or no withdrawal when going off the Percocets.”
The nurse also didn’t tell the employer beforehand that there might be an addiction — that was only after she was caught, said Randall.
“Obviously, if SM had come forward with her problem prior to being caught stealing the drugs, the disposition of this matter would have been different.
"And while every addict won’t be capable of doing that, in my view, based on all of the evidence, SM’s capacity to do that was not sufficiently impaired to mitigate the penalty of dismissal and I so find.”
Reference: Cambridge Memorial Hospital and the Ontario Nurses’ Association. Dana Randall — arbitrator. Seann McAleese for the employer. Rob Dubrucki for the employee. Jan. 19, 2017.
