Hospital Technician’s ?I Didn’t Steal Drugs? Denial Lacks Credibility

A hospital pharmacy was found to have just cause to fire a technician for stealing controlled drugs from inventory. The records clearly showed that the technician had custody over the drugs when they went missing. Rather than challenge the accuracy of the evidence, the technician offered vague explanations and suggested that other technicians might have done it. Finding her ‘non-responses’ and willingness to throw her colleagues ‘under the bus’ did little to impress the arbitrator. Theft is one of the most serious offences an employee can commit, he remarked in tossing the grievance [CUPE, Local 1252 v Horizon Health Network (Zone 3), 2018 CanLII 34079 (NB LA), April 4, 2018].