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Can I be sued???

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atb0030

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Alabama

I have a family member who works for a corporation in Alabama. She has an addiction to pain medications and smokes marijuana on a daily basis. Her company does random drug tests and has an employee assistance program. If an employee fails a drug test, they automatically send the employee to drug treatment centers. My mom and I wanted to help her, so I sent an anonymous email to the company letting them know that she needs help. Problem is she has prescriptions for some of the pain meds but buys more every month to support her addiction. Can she sue me for sending the email? Will the company let her know I sent it even though I asked to be kept anonymous? I sent it through a link on thier website where you can post resumes. I have since called the human resources manager asking for him to not open the email and send it back to me. However, they are out of the office until Monday. Help!
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
My crystal ball is out for recalibrating.

That being said, anyone can sue for anything. Whether or not she can successfully sue you will depend on what happens. She can't successfully sue you BECAUSE you sent the e-mail. Depending on the exact circumstances it is POSSIBLE that she might have a successful suit if she suffers unwarranted damages because you sent it.

However, I wouldn't be too concerned. First of all, it is unlikely that the company is going to pay too much attention to an anonymous e-mail (though you may have undone yourself by asking for it to be sent back - it may arouse curiousity). Secondly, it is not the responsibility of the company to see that she gets help.

YOU'RE her family member - why aren't YOU getting her help?
 

purple2

Member
My question is the same. I applaud you for wanting to get her help, but the way to do that is not to contact her employer. Her employer is not responsible for helping her with personal problems. Turning her in could get her fired too. The best approach would be for you to guide her to get help instead of getting her in trouble at her job.
 

atb0030

Junior Member
We have tried to get her help. She is a very beligerant (sp?) individual. We think that the only thing that will wake her up is if she gets sent to rehab by her company. They give the employees two chances on drug tests. When they fail the first time they get sent to rehab, all expenses are paid, second time they are caught, they get fired. She is also habitually late and calls out weekly, if she gets fired, it would be more for her actions at her job and not for the drugs. I think that because she has prescriptions for the drugs anyway, they will not even send her to rehab. But we are just trying to help her and by law, we can not force her to go to rehab.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Unfortunately this is one of those situations where you can't force the issue. Even if you got her into rehab one way or another, through her employer or on your own, unless she is ready and willing to do the work of recovering, it isn't going to take.

Trying to force her employer to do what you cannot do by law is not going to help.

If she gets fired for missing time instead of doing drugs, she's still fired and is still going to have to find a new job with her drug problem. It's not up to you to decide what she gets fired for.

I understand how much you want to help and I agree with purple that it's laudatory. But until she is ready to be helped, nothing you do is going accomplish anything.
 

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