December 2017

  The law sees an employee’s chemical dependency and/or psychiatric issues as disabilities for which the employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodation.  An employer must accommodate an employee’s disability, if a reasonable accommodation is feasible, and cannot discriminate against an employee because the employee has chemical dependency or psychiatric issues.

  A nurse had been working in the hospital’s emergency department about two years before she had to take a month off work for treatment for dependency on pain medication.  Her supervisor was under the impression she took this time off for emotional problems.  The real reason was not documented in her personnel file at the time.  She returned to work for another year without incident, but then after a series of personal and family crises the nurse started acting out with a gambling problem that ruined her finances.

  She asked for and got time off for treatment for a gambling addiction but never actually entered treatment.  When she returned to work this time she was still gambling, actually placing bets while on duty, and started making suicidal statements to coworkers.  Then she went on a cocaine binge, was stopped for driving under the influence and was arrested for illegal drug and drug paraphernalia possession.

  Her supervisors made her get a psych evaluation. She was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and pathological gambling.  Her supervisors told her she was going to be fired for unprofessional conduct.  She responded that she was in outpatient treatment and would agree to inpatient treatment as a "last chance" before being fired.  She was eventually fired, ostensibly for off-duty conduct unbecoming a registered nurse, that is, possession of crack cocaine and driving under the influence.