Drug and Alcohol Addiction: Last Chance Agreements
Date:
November 8 2006
In a recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision, Health Employers Association of B.C. v. British Columbia Nurses Union (2006) (the “Bergen Decision”), the Court enforced a last chance agreement in connection with the dismissal of Ron Bergen, a registered nurse at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital. Mr. Bergen was unable to abstain from the use of drugs and the culpable misconduct resulting from his addiction to drugs.
Drug addiction is considered to be a form of “disability” under the B.C. Human Rights Code. The Union alleged that the Employer failed to accommodate Mr. Bergen’s disability when it dismissed him. The Employer’s position was that it had accommodated Mr. Bergen’s disability to the point of undue hardship in that it had given Mr. Bergen two earlier opportunities to complete rehabilitation programs.
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