This disabled nurse, recovering from prescription drug addiction, filed a lawsuit alleging that other nurses were given assignments in hospital departments where there is no access to narcotics, something she needed to meet the restrictions on her license. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NEW YORK August 28, 2015

  A registered nurse asked for a medical leave from her job in the hospital’s emergency department to go into rehab for her dependency on prescription drugs.  She also reported herself and surrendered her nursing license.

  Four months after going into rehab her license was conditionally restored. The conditions placed on her license included stipulations that she work a set schedule and work only in an environment where there was no access to narcotics.

  Her attempt to return to work at the hospital was difficult. At first she was offered only per diem employment, then had a positive drug screen that might have been a false positive and then was told no nursing assignment was available to her which did not involve access to narcotics.

  After she was terminated she sued for disability discrimination.

  The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York accepted some and rejected some of the complex allegations set forth in the nurse’s lawsuit.

  An employee who has successfully completed substance abuse rehabilitation has legal rights as a disabled person.

  Assignments in units with no access to narcotics, necessary for this nurse to keep her license, a possible reasonable accommodation for this nurse, apparently were available to other nurses but not her, leading to an inference of discriminatory intent. 

  The Court also questioned whether the hospital fulfilled its legal duty to engage in an interactive communication process with this disabled employee.  Wilson v. Hospital, 2015 WL 5124481 (E.D.N.Y., August 28, 2015).

More references from nursinglaw.com

http://www.nursinglaw.com/addict1.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/impaired-nurse-disability-discrimination-case.pdf

http://www.nursinglaw.com/impaired2.pdf

http://www.nursinglaw.com/impaired-nurse-drug-test.htm

http://www.nursinglaw.com/chemical-dependencey-issues-nurse.htm