Dangerous Harrasement?

[Beth3]

butcher, the fact remains that the scenario you described is ludicrous. The boss would have to be Satan himself to cook up such a scheme. And why would he go to such incredible trouble and expense to concoct all this when if he wanted to be rid of the guy all he had to say was "Thanks but your services are no longer necessary." If the boss was afraid of what this employee knew (whatever that might be), it would have been FAR simpler and probably cheaper to buy his signature a confidentiality agreement with a severance package.

All those who responded think this situation is just way to farfetched to be true and that you're being told a bunch of self-serving tall tales by the co-worker with an addiction problem that resurfaced. Obviously no one here is going to convince you of that though.

Good luck to you.

 

[purple2]

I agree this scenario does not make sense. What you (OP) seem not to realize is that no one can just go on methadone upon request. A person must be found to have an addiction by way of a thorough assessment. A person cannot be admitted to a methadone program, hospital, rehab, or what have you without a diagnosed addiction. A boss can tell an employee to go to an EAP and the EAP can refer a person for further assessment, but no treatment program will admit a person who doesn't have an addiction.

 

[bucherandcooker]

Dangerous Harrasement

Well, I didn't accuse the boss of anything, so I don't think I can be sued and if anyone does discover who reported it and comes to me, I'll let them know I reported it because the company requires that I report it. The policy is very clear about that. I think everyone here is assuming that I have come to some conclusion about the truthfulness or merit of the story and I haven't. I just reported what I was told in an anonomys e-mail. I didn't make any accusations or suggest that the story that the employee gave was true or false.

I've heard of many folks (bosses and employers) doing really bad things, this certainly isn't the worst I've heard or seen, that's why it doesn't seem so far fetched to me. I worked for company once where the MARRIED VP of HR had an affair with one of his directors. When the payroll manager got mad (she also worked for him and said he gave special treatment to the one he was sleeping with) and went and complained, he tried to set her up for mis-directing money via direct deposit to an account for herself. He finally got caught on both counts as was fired, then after his wife left him HIS OWN department had to deal with the crying wife (and they had two children) on the phone trying to get signed up for continued medical coverage, which he had tried to work the system so she couldn't get it by taking her off his insurance during the annual election period. I know it's far fetched but IT REALLY HAPPENED and all the time, I was thinking, he's HR, he's GOT to know better than this and what about medical coverage for his kids? Last I knew, he was living with the woman he had an affair with in a one bedroom apartment (she was fired too). People do some awful stuff sometimes, and as sad as it is, you just never know what's true and what isn't.

I heard the last time this boss tried to fire someone HR said "NO GO" because there have been so many fired recently without good cause. I don't generally go around assuming the worst about people, but I do consider that there is a remote possibility that there is some merit to the story and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I'm going to check into that comment another poster made about not being able to get methadone without a specific diagnosis, the center I used to work in (many years ago), people could come in and get there daily methadone anonomysly and didn't need any documentation (supposedly this was going to keep them off of more dangerous drugs). They even got in trouble once because for billing the state "medi-cade" for patients that never really came in, but that was almost thirty years ago and in another state. In fact, I think the only requirement at the time was that they MUST be clean of herion or other more dangerous drugs to continue getting the methadone.

I think I acted appropriately in the manner in which I reported what I was told. I didn't make any accusations or assumptions in my e-mail, I simply relayed the story and left it at that.

Wow, I can't believe this thread has gotten this long. Now I'm starting to really wonder what will happen, if anything.

 

[bucherandcooker]

I have no idea if this is realated or not, but today we all learned (company wide) that our onsite EAP counselor is no longer. There are a multitude of rumors as to why, but the official reason is that "we find that employees are uncomfortable seeing a counselor who is on-site at the company because an employee can eaisily be seen coming and/or going from the counselors office and it doesn't provide the confidentially that we feel employees need or expect from an EAP."

From what I've heard, the counselor has been the "on site" first stop for anyone who calls the EAP for around ten years.

I think this thread is about to close because of how long it's gotten, I hope I find out more details about the employee who was sent to rehab before it closes. Based on all the comments I'm really curious about what really happened, although I know it's none of my business, I an finding it hard to not wonder about it.