Appropriate Disciplinary Action?

[MindOverMatter]

Hi guys, I have a friend who received a "final notification" about an incident that occurred in the pharmacy, which would lead to them being fired if it happened again. I feel that this was excessive, and would like your feedback/guidance on how to proceed.

Incident: Narcotic cabinet accidentally left unlocked overnight. Was unlocked after closing (pharmacist was doing cycle count). No other employees were in the pharmacy. Department was secured with two separate locks (keypad and deadbolt). Only pharmacists have access to code/keys. The other pharmacist noticed the infraction upon arriving the following day, and locked the cabinet/reported it.

My friend has never been counseled for anything in the 15 years working for this company. HR was notified, and they recommended the "final notification" level of discipline.

I realize that this is a potentially serious infraction, but the fact that there was nobody else present and the pharmacy was closed and secured by two different locks leads me to think that this level of discipline was excessive.

Thoughts?

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[M0df]

I'm not here to justify HR as they are hard to digest sometimes but they have a right to recommend anything they see fit in cases like this. They exist to protect the company. If Board of Pharmacy comes down on this pharmacy, they will have a lot easier time explaining what type of discipline was handed out and why.

It should be easy for your friend to 'never let it happen again.' He was written up for improper handling of narcs. So as long as he stays out of trouble in that particular category, he should be fine in the future. I do agree. This seems rather extreme but that is what happens when you work for a company.

 

[deleted480308]

I think HR is being reasonable

 

[ornithoptor]

I will attempt to share my two cents here.

Base on the severity, it is serious and have potential dire consequences. Sure, no harms were done this time, but does not alleviate the potential implications. Think about this: Had something been missing, depend on the quantity, depend on the state, police can be involved, so is board of pharmacy. I have seen state board discipline pharmacists for not securing pharmacy, and morning pharmacist could reported your friend to the state board for self preservation. Don't blame the other pharmacist not covering for the friend, this is about self-protection not about covering each others. It was a careless mistake that could compromise public safety.

Since nothing was indeed missing, a final warning to ensure nothing of this nature would ever happen again does not seem unfair. Maybe a little excessive from some viewpoints, but acceptable and appropriate from others. Hopefully a lesson is learned here and just move on.

At this time, if your friend plan to repeat the mistake sometime soon, your friend could fight this. First review all company policy, then investigate consistency of the level of write ups. Find precedent of lesser write ups of similar nature and present to the HR department and file a grievance. Hey, I have seen cashier who were fired after three tardies, attempted to contact the state congressman to have job reinstated.

If I am in his or her shoes, I would count my blessings, and move on. Be glad nothing and no harms were resulted. Take accountability is a virtue. Turn this into something positive. Good luck.





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[Bubba98]

Hi guys, I have a friend who received a "final notification" about an incident that occurred in the pharmacy, which would lead to them being fired if it happened again. I feel that this was excessive, and would like your feedback/guidance on how to proceed.

Incident: Narcotic cabinet accidentally left unlocked overnight. Was unlocked after closing (pharmacist was doing cycle count). No other employees were in the pharmacy. Department was secured with two separate locks (keypad and deadbolt). Only pharmacists have access to code/keys. The other pharmacist noticed the infraction upon arriving the following day, and locked the cabinet/reported it.

My friend has never been counseled for anything in the 15 years working for this company. HR was notified, and they recommended the "final notification" level of discipline.

I realize that this is a potentially serious infraction, but the fact that there was nobody else present and the pharmacy was closed and secured by two different locks leads me to think that this level of discipline was excessive.

Thoughts?

A doctorate of pharmacy can now be terminated for failing to lock a cabinet. This is why corporations fail. How about investing in cabinets that auto lock when you close them? Or how about the bottles and bottles of Vicodin C2 that are dumped into pill counting machines fully accessible to any tech? Seems silly now right?

 

[Dred Pirate]

HR can do what they want - but this seams excessive if they don't have a negative record. I have seen things like that get someone fired for a first offense, but only when they had a whole lot of other crap that you couldn't document proof to justify a termination

 

[KARM12]

Your friend can review the corporate policy. Different offenses can have different levels of disciplinary actions. The more serious, the higher level they can pursue. This is more than "just not locking the cabinet." These are controlled substances and companies do this to protect themselves.

 

[Digsbe]

I guess from a loss prevention and drug diversion standpoint leaving the safe unlocked is serious. If something were to happen like an employee who should not have access to CII's had access and diverted due to the pharmacist neglecting to lock it properly would be a major problem for the company, DEA, and law enforcement. I can see why they have it at this level of seriousness, but with no history of negative write ups I think a "final notice" is harsh unless it's outlined in their policy.

 

[Old Timer]

Really, this guy should quit while he can. First, the a-hole, d-head, MF, CS partner who reported him should be shot. They have DVR recordings that can verify nothing happened. It's not like there was a break in or he left the door open and a clerk stole 500 Oxy 30's. Second the supervisor does this to a 15 year vet with no disciplinary issues? This guy is getting set up to be canned.

 

[Digsbe]

Really, this guy should quit while he can. First, the a-hole, d-head, MF, CS partner who reported him should be shot. They have DVR recordings that can verify nothing happened. It's not like there was a break in or he left the door open and a clerk stole 500 Oxy 30's. Second the supervisor does this to a 15 year vet with no disciplinary issues? This guy is getting set up to be canned.

If a colleague left a safe open overnight I'd laugh about it personally. If you knew no harm happened it's just a personal conversation of "hey you forgot, next time make sure it's all locked" , "yeah ok I'll double check from now on." and leave it at that. There likely wasn't mal intent with leaving it open or a plan to divert, just simply forgot among juggling 48027437 things as a pharmacist.

I opened pharmacies where closers pulled and locked the gates, but didn't lock the actual pharmacy door because it has a code to get itn. It was bad practice to not lock the actual door and rely on the code to get it but it was nothing I'd report. The door with the code to get in was still secured by gates.

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

I would quit if this happened to me. Have some self-respect. Also make sure to report any and all violations to the Board of Pharmacy, one good turn deserves another. Did that partner fail to counsel a patient in a new med? Forget HR, go for their license.


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[lord999]

I honestly wouldn't consider this a major offense for the reasons that @oldtimer said above. I would have the informal "don't screw this up again as we (not I) could have had an incident with some addiction jacka$$" speech.

I'm going to say something unpopular now. I'm not sure the RxS has a choice but to give the official paperwork if HR got formally contacted. The reason is "fairness" at a bureaucratic level. What I said above would be what most normal supervisors would do, but I'm sure there's a written down HR policy that stipulates something along the lines without taking each and every situation into account. Remember, HR is staffed by the cheapest people you can find to keep the company in business, and fair in the legal sense without discretion leads to these pigeonholed solutions that are the least risky to the corporation. Same thing from the RxS. While he/she might have wanted to do the reasonable action, company policy is such that it dictates behavior against personal discretion. We forget that personal discretion is as much something that gets the job done as well as favortist and discriminatory treatment. To find that balance is something that no language can distinguish unambiguously without either pigeonholing supervisors into these sorts of Kafkaesque situations or have so much leeway that a supervisor would get the company in trouble with discrimination. Our desire for wanting justice through legalism causes this impossible dilemma to show up. There is no easy way around this except to not have people around who would not understand the private rules in the workplace.

I'd certainly do the "right" thing in this situation and quietly make it a point to retaliate. No one's perfect, and what better way to remind that counterpart how that cuts both ways.

Musing on something else, I do miss the old tactic of forcing "Whom the Gods Would Destroy" situations on prospective supervisors to weed out the ones who don't use their heads and are just company tools and the sociopaths.

 

[owlegrad]

It's an overreaction of the highest degree (except for terminating of course). I suspect that the person who reported it wants to get your 'friend' fired. I certainly wouldn't report a coworker for something so minor.

Although to one of the points above, I am curious if anyone loads C2s into a filling machine? I know that was against policy at CVS and I figured it was at all chains?

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[VA77]

I think owlgrad hit the nail on the head and it sound like bad blood between employees. If this only happened once and they are getting a "final notice" then that is a bad policy.

Personally, with all the metrics involved these days and electronics I don't know why you can't have fingerprint scanners on the alarms and safes. Its not that expensive to outfit and takes care of a lot of problems like trying to remember codes for each store and keys. Plus you can add and remove permissions on the fly as pharmacist float,resign,retire,fired, etc.

 

[hick2672]

Sounds like CVS! They overlook legal responsibility to counsel each and every patient but are ready to get the firing squad out for one unlocked cabinet! Another happy day at corporate pharmacies!!!


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[Sine Cura]

If you are going to work for a chain, assume that anything you do that deviates from corporate policy can be used against you and that you don't have any real job security. It takes only one **** to report something. A butthurt tech, a butthurt floater, a butthurt customer, etc.

When it comes to security of the pharmacy, did this guy even care enough about his job? That said, I say this as someone who could easily have reported multiple pharmacists for not properly securing the pharmacy, even not setting the pharmacy alarm (which is supposed to be automatic termination at some chains) yet didn't because I'm not a total dick.

Getting caught for something basic like closing a narc cabinet or safe may suggest the pharmacist is sloppy in other areas of his work. It's like getting pulled over for speeding. Odds are the guy speeding didn't just speed this "one time."

 

[Amicable Angora]

If you are going to work for a chain, assume that anything you do that deviates from corporate policy can be used against you and that you don't have any real job security. It takes only one **** to report something. A butthurt tech, a butthurt floater, a butthurt customer, etc.

When it comes to security of the pharmacy, did this guy even care enough about his job? That said, I say this as someone who could easily have reported multiple pharmacists for not properly securing the pharmacy, even not setting the pharmacy alarm (which is supposed to be automatic termination at some chains) yet didn't because I'm not a total dick.

Getting caught for something basic like closing a narc cabinet or safe may suggest the pharmacist is sloppy in other areas of his work. It's like getting pulled over for speeding. Odds are the guy speeding didn't just speed this "one time."

OP said his friend had 15 years of clean record.

 

[sosoo]

we had a staff gotten written up some years ago for something a lot worse. when checking in narcotics delivery in the morning, he signed the invoice, but forgot to place a check mark on the CII item delivered. b/c of that missing check mark, he gotten written up..

 

[Abby Atwood]

It should be reported. If something was found to be missing later, it would be important to have this incident documented.

 

[northeast-southwest]

Ridiculous. I'd leave that dump as soon as possible.

 

[npage148]

The c2 cabinets are really only there to keep techs out of them most of the time. Most I see could be jimmied open with a butter knife. If the pharmacy was secured and alarmed then no one could get to the safe anyways so eh...

I leave my keys in the lock when it's open so it's harder to forget to lock it

 

[Ackj]

It should be reported. If something was found to be missing later, it would be important to have this incident documented.

Conspiracy time: the reporter has been stealing the narcs, and now is setting up OP's friend.