I hear stories, or should I say — true life events — all the time from employers. They often finish their account with a question, “Can you believe (s)he did that?” My answer is always, “Yes, I can believe that.” The same crazy people who live in your neighborhood, or city, or have children at your children’s school, go to work. And they are no different at work. Here is one of those true life events that took place in Southern California. It’s the case of Sara Monague v. AMN Healthcare, Inc.
AMN is a staffing company that provides nurses and medical personnel to health care facilities. It placed Theresa Drummond, as a medical assistant, to work at a Kaiser facility. She and another medical assistant, Sara Montague, had a disagreement over stocking. Sara did not think the argument was serious. However, a few weeks after the disagreement, she took a drink from her water bottle at work. Her tongue and throat started to burn. She started to vomit.
Theresa, it turns out, poured carbonic acid she found in an exam room in Sara’s water bottle.
Carbonic acid has been used as an antimicrobial compound to dress wounds. In diluted strength, it can calm a painful toothache. However, it can act as a poison, causing gastroenteritis and vomiting. It can paralyze respiration and cause the heart to stop. That is some serious stuff!
Sara sued AMN. She claimed it acted negligently in hiring, training and supervising Theresa. Sara also claimed that AMN was liable under a theory of respondeat superior, or in other words, AMN is liable for the actions of Theresa.
AMN was successful in dismissing the lawsuit. The court concluded that AMN was a general employer, and that when it relinquished total control over Theresa to Kaiser, a special employer, it was absolved of all respondeat superior liability. Moreover, Theresa acted outside the scope of her employment in poisoning Sara. The court concluded that the conduct was not incidental to Theresa’s duties, nor was it foreseeable that Theresa would poison Sara.
By the way, this is not the first time I have heard of poisoning at work. Years ago, an employee “Beth” was angry with “Ann” because Ann was tattling on Beth. Beth recently had her breasts enhanced. She enjoyed telling people about it, and even showed her friends in the office (behind a closed door). Ann, a generation older and not the center of attention, was a little jealous. She broke into Ann’s computer files and located a file dedicated to Beth’s married boyfriend. In great detail, Beth described her enhanced features and otherwise teased her boyfriend in prose. Ann printed copies of the love/lust letters and provided them to management. The boss took some disciplinary measures against Beth, but did nothing to Ann, claiming he could not prove it was her who hacked into Beth’s personal account. In retaliation, Beth poured bleach in the potted plants Ann grew at her desk. In the end, Beth was fired, Ann kept her job.
Yes, crazy things like this happen all of the time!