Keys to the Drug Cabinet John Brown, a 22-year-old African-American, had been em
ID: 367393 • Letter: K
Question
Keys to the Drug Cabinet
John Brown, a 22-year-old African-American, had been employed for only two-and-a-half weeks as a licensed practical nurse in a local hospital’s alcohol and drug treatment center. John worked the 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. shift. His responsibilities included having charge of the keys to the drug cabinet. One morning at 1 A.M., he became ill. He requested and received permission from the night supervisor, Margaret Handley, to go home. A short time later, the supervisor realized that John had failed to leave the keys when he signed out. She immediately tried to reach him by telephoning his home. More than a dozen attempts to call John proved futile; each time Margaret got a busy signal. Finally, at 3 A.M., a man answered but refused to call John to the phone, saying John was too ill to talk. She became frantic and decided to call the police to retrieve the keys. The police arrived at John’s home at 6:30 A.M. They found him preparing to leave to return the keys to the hospital. The police took the keys and returned them. Later that day, John reported to work on his assigned shift, apologized for not returning the keys, and questioned the necessity of calling the police. Two days later, the unit director, Marcus Webb, informed John that he had been terminated. The reason cited for the discharge was that he had failed to leave the drug cabinet keys before leaving the hospital and that the keys had been in his possession from 1 A.M. to 7 A.M. the following day. John learned that Margaret Handley had been verbally reprimanded for her handling of the case. John filed an appeal regarding his dismissal with the human resource director of the hospital. However, the unit director’s recommendation was upheld. Following this decision, John immediately filed charges with the EEOC that he had been discriminated against because of his race. Both the night supervisor and the unit director were white. He requested full reinstatement with back pay. He also requested that his personnel file be purged of any damaging records that alluded to the incident.
QUESTIONS
1. What would your decision be if you were asked to decide this case?
2. Should a supervisor and a lower-level employee be disciplined equally? Explain.
Explanation / Answer
Answer to part 1 of the question - What would your decision be if you were asked to decide this case?
If I had to decide about this case, I would have first called John Brown to understand about his illness and what was so serious about his illness that he had to rush home and that could not be treated at the hospital itself.
Next, I would have called the night supervisor Margaret Handley to check with her about the protocols that is usually supposed to follow when one is given permission to leave the hospital premises. Did she have the necessary checklist which a person needs to fill up before taking leave? Also, I would have check with her about the duplicate keys which are available in such cases. I would have also checked with her if there was any emergency during 1AM to 7AM that day.
Assuming that John’s reply indicated an illness for which he had to rush home, I would first re-instate him to his duties and issue him a stern warning letter for two reasons – 1. Negligence of handing over the keys to the night supervisor, 2. Bringing the view point of racial discrimination which is not acceptable in professional organizations.
I would also issue a stern warning letter to Margaret for not having necessary procedures and protocols in such case of emergency and also not ensuring that there are duplicate keys. I would also issue her warning letter, as she should have first reported the incident to her human resource director who may have arranged for an alternative way to pick up keys from John rather than first calling the police and directing the issue towards a flare-up.
Answer to part 2 of the question - Should a supervisor and a lower-level employee be disciplined equally? Explain.
Yes, the supervisor and the lower-level employee should equally be disciplined as in this case, it was found that mistake was there at both the ends. Instead of accepting their own set of mistakes, they have increased the seriousness of the issue by calling up police and by introducing the terms of racial discrimination. Secondly, in hospitals, where there would be a large team, handling such issues become critical as it would be important for one to set an example before the entire staff and make them understand that first is the hospital and its patients and that any lacunae in discharging their duties would not be tolerated.
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