Canadian Employment Law Today

Canadian HR Reporter, 2019 No discrimination against worker with disability who quit Employer implemented accommodation measures and investigated harassment complaint, but worker became impatient and quit BY JEFFREY R. SMITH A British Columbia worker has lost her claim of discrimination based on her disability after she quit when her employer's ac- commodation efforts didn't satisfy her. Sarah Raudales was hired by the B.C. Interior Health Authority in June 2016 to fill in for a psychiatric nurse on maternity leave at Swan Valley Lodge, a residential care facility in Creston, B.C. Because it was a part-time role, Raudales had an- other job as well. In late 2013, Raudales had been diag- nosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, she didn't think it would affect her work as a nurse and as a result she didn't mention it to In- terior Health when she was hired. It didn't take long before Interior Health became aware of complaints about Raudales by her colleagues at Swan Valley. Her supervisors also became con- cerned that she was making errors docu- menting patient medications on the med- ication administration record (MAR) — a record required by Interior Health under its policies. Employee revealed disability at performance review In mid-July 2016, Raudales' supervisor met with her and showed her a docu- ment listing alleged errors she had made on MARs — more than 100 in the previ- ous month. Raudales — who was still on probation — was surprised because the errors hadn't been brought to her atten- tion before that point. She acknowledged making mistakes recording information on the MARs, but said such errors were common and didn't believe they were usually treated as deserving of discipline. Her supervisor said that on the contrary, such errors were serious and could cause a risk to the health of vulnerable patients. Raudales then told her supervisor she had been diagnosed with ADHD and that was the reason for her errors filling out MARs. She also said she hadn't previ- ously disclosed her disability because she hadn't thought it would affect her work. e conversation turned to how Interi- or Health could accommodate Raudales' disability. Raudales said she had been able to work with her condition at other jobs by using colour coding on MARs and suggested Interior Health could imple- ment that or have her fill out MARs elec- tronically. Interior Health didn't have the capability of colour coding, but said she was welcome to use highlighters to im- plement her own colour coding. After the meeting, the supervisor told Raudales not to tell her co-workers about her ADHD because it might cause them to think her incompetent. Later that day, Raudales emailed her supervisor to point out the supervisor herself had missed some signatures on MARs over the past few days. e supervisor replied that it was "not a big deal." Over the next two days, Raudales failed to sign MARs for 26 patient medications. Soon after, Swan Valley's residential services manager discussed possible ac- commodation with the HR department, including the possibility of colour coding the MARs. In the meantime, Raudales was to use a ruler to make sure she didn't miss any entries. According to Raudales, after the meet- ing she felt she was being watched by her colleagues, the manager, and her supervi- sor for mistakes. She also claimed she was bullied and harassed when she made mis- takes about medications but she couldn't reveal her ADHD diagnosis because of her supervisor's order. She asked again about colour coding the MARs, but noth- ing further developed. In August, Interior Health manage- ment met again with Raudales to discuss concerns with her nursing practices and what support she needed. e manager told her she wold be moved to day shifts only and be provided with daily check-ins along with the support of another reg- istered nurse while the disability man- agement department worked on strate- gies. Raudales mentioned she was being bullied and harassed by colleagues, but didn't link it to her ADHD. According to Raudales, the manager told her that col- leagues were providing her with "feed- back" but she should bring any concerns to him or HR in writing for investigation. However, Raudales didn't contact anyone about her bullying and harassment alle- gations. Interior Health decided to extend Rau- dales' probation and review her progress on a weekly basis to "assess your readiness to work independently prior to returning your master scheduled rotation." Accommodation measures implemented Raudales contacted the disability man- agement department in late August and provided medical information from her family doctor confirming her ADHD diagnosis and the need for "manage- ment strategies to address organizational changes associated with her disability and to help her stay focused on tasks," including more time to train on tasks re- quiring attention. e department con- firmed with the residential services man- ager that certain measures already being taken — such as carrying a book to docu- ment medications, keeping medication carts in the medication room, and using a ruler when filling out MARs — should be sufficient accommodation strategies, though she would benefit from seeing a counsellor through the employee assis- tance program. Raudales complained to the manager about incidents of harassment and bul- lying, including a colleague who started combing through her notes and practice after she revealed her ADHD to the col- league. By late August 2016, she devel- oped severe anxiety. On Aug. 31, Raudales stayed home from work and filed a harassment com- plaint with WorkSafe BC. On Sept. 1, she EMPLOYERS must be attentive when an employee reveals a disability and requests accommodation, especially if the employee already has performance issues that could be related to the disability. But accommodation doesn't have to be perfect, just reasonable. 4 CASE IN POINT: ACCOMMODATION BACKGROUND

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