Abuse of Clients' Property: Home Health Aide Fired for Long Distance Calls

Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession

August 1998  

  Quick Summary: A home health agency is allowed to prohibit its employees from using clients' phones for their own personal calls.  Even though this live-in aide had the clients’ permission to use their phones, and the aide paid the phone bills totaling $950, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, upheld the home health agency’s rule against abuse of clients’ property. The court ruled the aide was guilty of intentional misconduct justifying her termination. Benton v. Homecare, 671 N.Y.S. 2d 202 (N.Y. Sup., 1998).