Case of the Month: Secure Your Workplace from Fraud 

Written by: Crystal M. O'Brien, Esq.

Drug dependency is always a difficult problem to tackle, and the relationship between a drug dependent employee and their employer is no less intimidating to manage. This month’s case focuses on the question of what to do with a long term employee whose suspected abuse becomes painfully obvious to all.

For years, “Sally” enjoyed her physician-employer’s seemingly endless supply of pharmaceutical samples. Sally had become familiar with drug representatives and regularly ordered samples for her, her family and friends’ benefit, and often exchanged samples for bobbles, favors and money. Sally even called in narcotics for her chronic pain symptoms and would create patient profiles (to order drugs under fictitious names) to divert attention away from her.

As you might guess, Sally’s bad acts were ultimately discovered. How? The U.S. Department of Justice, in conjunction with a local pharmacist (to whom Sally called in prescriptions), brought her abuse to the attention of her employer. What happened thereafter? Well, the employer worked closely with MMC’s Risk Management Department to investigate her conduct and confronted her with proof of misuse of her position. In the end, Sally was terminated. Moreover, Sally remains exposed to criminal liability attached to fraud, practicing medicine without a license and other related charges. While Sally was provided with information as to how to seek help for chemical dependency, this employee sadly must do so without the security of employment.

The moral of this story is simple. Maintain a system of checks and balances in your workplace to prevent any one person from having so much freedom that they can engage in bad acts without scrutiny. If the employer locked drug samples away where only medical professionals had access, secured fax lines where approval of prescriptions remained under the watchful eye of medical professionals, and required Sally to assume other tasks and run the risk of having her conduct discovered by co-workers, Sally more likely than not would have never enjoyed an unfettered license to do as she pleased. To learn more about how to manage employee dishonest acts, contact our Labor & Employment Law Department at (800) 899-MMCI (6624) for a private consultation.   

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