PeaceHealth terminated Ashley Rodarte, a long-time Pharmacy Tech and OFNHP member, claiming she violated HIPPA. As a Pharmacy Tech that was working in the Emergency Department doing the “Med Recs,” part of her workplace duties is to review the patient's file for details needed to complete the work. This is an absolutely standard part of her position, one that is necessary for providing adequate care set by the standards of her profession.
The Employer claimed she took a “deep dive” into the patient's record and after going through the grievance process we advanced it to Arbitration, the final binding stage. OFNHP provided witness testimony and documents to support the argument that this employee was just doing her job rather than stepping out of bounds for what is required of her.
One interesting piece of this Arbitration was that the Arbitrator ruled that her Weingarten Rights were violated when the Pharmacy Manager told Rodarte that Compliance wanted to speak with her. Ashley asked if she should get a Steward and the Manager she was speaking with suggested that Compliance only wanted to ask questions, something they do regularly and that she was not in any type of trouble. The Arbitrator ruled that was a violation since it did not accurately reflect the situation, which was one where discipline, including termination, was possible, and therefore she should have her Weingarten Rights protected.
Most importantly, the Arbitrator ruled that Rodarte did not commit an intentional violation of HIPPA, as was claimed by management. This victory assures that Rodarte was actually following allowed procedures, and helps to allow the rest of the unit the confidence necessary to do their job providing excellent patient care and pharmaceutical support.
The Arbitrator ruled Rodarte to be returned to work with full back pay. Jessica Harrington was the Steward that worked on this, and supported Rodarte through the process of fighting back against the unjust termination. The other Stewards in the Pharmacy, Robin Hendrix and Tina Davis, also assisted with advice on the job of a Med Tech. Laurie Heppel, the elected Bargaining Unit Chair, provided valuable support as well, showing how teamwork through our union is crucial to protecting our coworkers. It was a group effort along with witness testimony that the Arbitrator found confident, credible and had an impact on the Arbitrators ruling.
This is an example of the power we have in the workplace, to present our case with the support of our union leaders and to ensure that we will stay protected when doing our jobs.