Canadian Employment Law Today

Canadian Employment Law Today | 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 livery to a certain unit within the hospital's system. e manager checked the narcotics dispensary inventory record and found that two days earlier, Arsenault had signed out 20 tablets of Zopiclone — a narcotic used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders — but only 10 tablets had been delivered to the unit. e dispensing record showed two more orders of 20 tablets each of Zopiclone for the unit — in Arsenault's handwriting. ere was no record of Arsenault returning tablets to the pharmacy, though the standard pro- cedure was for another employee to witness the restocking of a narcotic drug. e manager had staff members conduct an audit of all pharmacy employees and drugs to look for other discrepancies, and he also informed the regional pharmacy man- ager and the DECH human resources man- ager. He then filed a "loss or theft report form for controlled substances and precursors" with Health Canada and the New Brunswick College of Pharmacists. e audit found two more discrepan- cies related to expired medications. Arse- nault had recorded removals of drugs from the dispensing cabinets because they had reached or would soon reach their expiry dates. e records indicated that on Oct. 23, Arsenault had removed four tablets of Zopi- clone but there was no corresponding entry for placement of the tablets in a secure box for medication to be destroyed. ree days before that, on Oct. 20, Arsenault recorded that she had removed 10 Lorazepam tablets — another medication used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders — but no corresponding entry on the destruction record. ere were no other discrepancies in the records involv- ing Zopiclone or other employees. e manager called the police, who inves- tigated. However, no charges were laid be- cause there wasn't sufficient proof. e manager planned to meet with Arse- nault when she was next at work, but Arse- nault called in with car trouble. He was able to meet with her on Nov. 17, along with an HR official and a union representative. Arsenault claimed she didn't remem- ber the discrepancies and couldn't offer an explanation. She speculated she may have thrown the tablets out, as she didn't always follow policy. She also pointed out that mistakes in recording the quantities of con- trolled drugs was common and sometimes the rolls of 20 tablets were inaccurate — they were either short one tablet or had an extra one. She also said Zopiclone was a "not well used drug" and sometimes pharmacy tech- nicians grabbed a roll without checking the stock numbers in the computer. e manager put Arsenault on a paid leave of absence pending completion of the inves- tigation. At the time, she was having difficul- ty in her marriage, had missed time at work and was considering taking a stress leave. e manager and DECH determined that Arsenault had stolen the drugs, as there were multiple discrepancies in the dispensing re- cord and they all involved her. In addition, the missing drugs were used to treat anxiety and sleep disorder — DECH didn't think it was a coincidence since Arsenault had been under stress from her marriage problems. DECH terminated Arsenault's employ- ment for theft. e union grieved the ter- mination, arguing the hospital didn't have proof that Arsenault stole the drugs and didn't have just cause for dismissal. e adjudicator found that the records established that controlled drugs were dis- pensed by Arsenault but there was no re- cord of delivery of those drugs. Arsenault acknowledged those records and didn't dis- pute they were inaccurate. Instead, she of- fered explanations of what might have hap- pened and what she might have done, but her explanations were "speculative at best and never amount to more than mere 'pos- sibility,'" the adjudicator said. e adjudicator also noted that Arsenault's "non-response" and speculation when con- fronted by the manager lacked credibility considering it was only five days after the last discrepancy in the records. In addition, no other pharmacy technician acknowledged being involved in the recorded dispensing and no other staff member backed up her claim that mistakes were often made and the stock numbers were inaccurate. Arsenault's explanation was essentially an attempt to "throw her fellow technicians at the DECH pharmacy 'under the bus'" to save her skin, the adjudicator said. e adjudicator determined that there was clear evidence of theft of the drugs and Arsenault failed to prove she didn't take them or had good reason to not record why. Because Arsenault's misconduct related to controlled drugs and the pharmacy's ability to keep track of them, it put the pharmacy's licence to dispense drugs at risk. is provid- ed just cause for dismissal, said the adjudica- tor in upholding Arsenault's termination. See CUPE, Local 1252 and Horizon Health Network (Zone 3) (Arsenault), Re, 2018 Car- swellNB 143 (N.B. Lab. & Emp. Bd.). No record of removed drugs delivered or returned « from HOSPITAL on page 1 WEBINARS Interested in learning more about employment law issues directly from the experts? Check out the Carswell Professional Development Centre's live and on-demand webinars discussing topics such as navigating benefits during the notice period, discipline and dismissal for off-duty conduct, Ontario's employment standards changes, and diversity in the workplace. To view the webinar catalogue, visit cpdcentre.ca/hrreporter. CREDIT: I VIEWFINDER)/SHUTTERSTOCK More Cases

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