Not one of these cites is even remotely applicable to the argument. The doctors in two of these cites were more than double the legal limit. The OP was less than 1/4, not enough to show signs of visible intoxication. In the other two there was heavier drinking combined with other offenses such as inappropriate sexual behavior and lewd notes written on patient charts.
What; did you think you could just post a bunch of links and they wouldn’t be read?
The thing is, you have to be diagnosed or declared to be suffering from alcoholism. I’m not a lawyer and therefore am unfamiliar with the nuances here, but because showing up under the influence does not automatically mean you are an alcoholic the burden on is on the fired employee to prove they’re an alcoholic. Not likely if they’re still in a state of denial.
What I got from my workplace during orientation (and I work for a pretty relaxed company regarding use for Indiana) is that you have let the company know you have an alcohol/drug problem BEFORE you get into a disciplinary situation to claim protected status. At which point certain things, like the use of forklifts for example, will be off limits for you until you demonstrate some sort of recovery and ability to be reliably sober during work hours.
IF someone was otherwise an exemplary employee AND no one got hurt/no damage or significant loss occurred then my company MIGHT do that… but they are not required to do this.
If someone is otherwise a problem then it become a really easy way to get rid of a perceived troublemaker.
Well, one difference with doctors is that they can be involved in time-consuming emergencies with a prior patient. There are legitimate reasons for a doctor to be late.
Of course, that’s not always the case, there are irresponsible doctors out there. And drug-abusing doctors. We have a doc on the Dope that’s an addict who has been sober for quite some time now who may or may not choose to further elaborate on the doctor end of the situation.
One problem with getting a cite on doctors fired or otherwise punished for drug abuse is the whole medical privacy issue. I know about doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel who were fired for showing up blasted at work, but I can’t give details due to medical privacy laws. I can state I used to work at a clinic that treated drug addicts, which is where I encountered some of these people, but at most they would be anecdotes with names and identifying details changed.
There ARE stories of doctors being fired for drug issues… but you have to look really hard for them. A quick Google is unlikely to turn up anything substantial.
^ This is what I mean by “further information”.
Based solely on what appears in this thread there is no way to “diagnose” alcoholism. Multiple instances that indicate a problem with alcohol are a different story, although I’d still hesitate to make a declaration.
The Sacramento link certainly qualifies.
Do you think there’s a lot of news stories about blue collar people getting fired for blowing .019? No,because it’s not an interesting story.
That’s true, there is that obvious flaw in my logic.
I thought it might slip by unnoticed.
Agreed, I could tell you some anecdotes about MD’s I’ve seen sanctioned equivalently to the OP, but it’s not in the news.
No it doesn’t; the article claims the doctor was drunk. The Op was not drunk, not even close.
There is one undeniable difference in the way surgeons are treated though, according to this article:
“However, the findings do beg the question as to why it is that every other safety-sensitive profession has random drug screenings, while surgeons do not,”
Yes, but they don’t offer any evidence more compelling than ‘smelling like a brewery’.
Totally with you on the testing thing, though.
Gosh, I’m happy in don’t live in the USA. If you come in hungover to work they sack you, and they think you’re an alcoholic.
If you compliment someone on their clothes or make-up (other thread), you have to get paranoid about sexual harassment.
No fun at all.
Long live Europe.
You’d have to be nuts to be a European citizen and want to emigrate to the US. For most other places though, coming to the US is an improvement.
I spent 30 seconds Googling for stories about doctors who were fired for alcohol. They weren’t hard to find, I just chose the ones on the top of the list. You didn’t specify what precisely you were looking for so don’t blame me for making what I thought was a reasonable attempt to provide counter-examples. As others have said, the more narrowly defined your acceptable criteria are the more difficult it’s going to be to find exact matches.
You you accept that doctors are fired for alcohol use on the job? If so, we’re just trying to identify the line where the two situations are comparable.
I think our differences in opinion are due to our differences in reading reading comprehension.
Whether or not the OP is an alchoholic I think we can all agree that he has some sort of problem if
1 - He shows up to work hungover and smelling of alcohol and thinks that’s acceptable.
2 - Thinks that being able to legally drive is the standard for a acceptable BAC in all situations.
Mine was the group itself, but I’m like that. ETA: One guy called me a vampire sucking all the power out of the group, but I think he was looking for an excuse to drink. Or he’s nuts. Lotta nuts in AA.
Another vote for “this wasn’t the first incident” and “they didn’t want to pay their half of his UI,” with a side of “once it hit management he was fucked.”
As for Europe’s attitude toward drinking on the job, I’ve been reading a lot about bad decisions in history and have concluded that we’d live in a very different world if our leaders 200 or 2000 years ago had been sober.
Princess Stolichnaya?
two more thoughts -
If I read the OP correctly - he voluntarily went for a breathalyser test. This probably means that he somehow “challenged” management, or told them they were wrong, or argued his case? So the result may be as much about getting rid of a troublemaker as it was the positive result. Especially if he wasn’t very judicious in his choice of words
Dad used to work as a “lollipop man” in Australia, the people he worked for certainly had a “zero tolerance” policy - he even mentioned in the past something about “blowing in the bag” before being allowed to sign out company vehicles. I also know that one young chap got caught drinking surreptitously on the job - and the whole team was breath tested after he was escorted off the worksite.
Maybe that’s because they were working with children, and there’s nothing more precious than the life of a child ?
Still, I looked up lollipop men to make sure there was not some other meaning — like say, the pilot of a lollipop shaped airship, or someone who sticks manhole covers to poles, or a benevolent old gentleman who darts from the bushes in parks donating sweets to children, “This is our secret, little one.” — and found this sad tale of a Scots-African lollipop man in Dumbarton fired for high-fiving the kids.
*Nkosana Mdikane, 74, is known as “Scotland’s happiest lollipop man” due to his singing and dancing at work.
West Dunbartonshire Council said safety fears were behind the decision.
A statement from West Dunbartonshire Council said: “All patrollers are instructed when crossing children over a road to remain static with one hand on their stick and the other stretched outwards. This ensures that they can be seen and effectively provides a barrier between school pupils and the traffic.”*
…
Soon after beginning work at Aitkenbar Primary School and St Peter’s Primary School in Dumbarton he became a local celebrity, with some drivers even admitting to taking detours past the schools in order to watch Mr Mdikane’s dance routines.
BBC —** Council orders lollipop man to stop ‘high-fiving’ children**
So you don’t have to drink to have a good time — nor to get fired.
“Captain Gutgore Blooddrink.” Did you have the Awesome McCoolname when you started this thread? I remember reading the first page of the thread and not even noticing it.
I believe he used to be Filthy Beast of Meat and Hair, but changed that quite a while ago.
Yeah, but his problem could be improper socialization, not a problem with alcohol per se.