Can you do this job on drugs? Ask HR Wench
Here’s the scoop … a recently hired employee has a disability that requires him to take pain medication. He did disclose this information during the interview process (we didn’t ask, he offered), however he made it sound like an “every now and then” situation.
After working for us for a couple of months, we have found that this was not a full disclosure by a long shot. (Shame on us for not asking more questions!) This employee suffers from a rare disease and is in constant pain. As a result, his medication list is extensive:
- Oxycontin opiate (five times, YES FIVE! throughout the day)
- Tylenol and ibuprofen alternating every other hour
- A seizure medication (used for pain in his case)
- A muscle relaxer
Obviously, these doses would probably impact anyone’s ability to do their job, but that is where the situation becomes even more unique. His position involves extensive physical labor for many hours a day (his schedule is a week on, a week off). He also works with clients who may be tempted to access such potent medications.
We do an extensive pre-employment background check, but we don’t drug test. We’ll be implementing our own Drug Free Workplace policy in the future, I’m sure, but I digress. We’ve found a temporary solution for distribution of his meds, rather than him having full Rx bottles on his person, so in this case we’ve eliminated the risk of a client accessing them.
The bigger question – can we let him go without being discriminatory? This is a condition that will not “get better” … he will always have this disease, and will always require medication. Additionally, I wonder how many other employees are taking meds at work, and can I ask for disclosure?
Not so much, believe it or not. Others have observed that he is in obvious pain (I am healthy and not on meds, and I would be in pain if I had to do his job!!). The feedback from his peers and trainers is that he was able to skate by, but they “predict” that he wouldn’t be able to make it for the long haul, day in and day out. The only other performance issue is not related to the meds … he made some racial comments, and has an obvious lack of cultural sensitivity. He was verbally reprimanded. The great news in all of this is that being a new hire, he is still in his Introductory Period and I am hoping there is sufficient evidence that he just doesn’t make the cut for permanent employment, therefore the meds won’t even need to play into the decision.
His own disclosure. He talked to his peers about this … he is very open about it, almost glorifying in my opinion. The word filtered through the grapevine to our on-staff health care professional, and then to me, HR.
Yes, however it is supremely minimal: blood pressure, heart rate, height, weight, just the basics.
Here are just a few more details that may or may not help state the case. These comments are from the employee’s hiring manager / supervisor, who is obviously pulling for him.
There are no concrete issues that have been seen with his medications affecting his ability to work. A lot of the employees who worked with him really like him and think that he will be very good at the job with some coaching around disclosure (he has over shared some personal info with clients once & he got really good feedback on that and has worked hard to get a handle on when it is appropriate to share and why).
I talked with him yesterday and (without me asking) he told me a bit more about his pain medication usage. He just began taking some of the meds he is on. He went to a pain management doctor before he got onto some of the new ones and he had to do a lot of work there before he could try the new meds. He has to be drug tested too so that he is not found to be abusing the meds. There are some other things I’m sure he would share if we asked. I hope that we can be very objective in this decision. I believe he is managing the meds ok and storing them properly while at work. I think we should give him a chance, but I understand policies and safety too.
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