Facility Stopping & Searching Employees' Personal Belongings

Sour Lemon · Aug 5, 2016

What if any legal ramifications does such a policy have? Is this legal?

That sounds very unpleasant, but it's a question for alllawyers, not allnurses. :eek:

elkpark · Aug 5, 2016

I'm not offering any legal advice and am in no position to do so, but I have read of other kinds of employers (non-healthcare) having this kind of policy, searching all employees routinely as they leave work in order to prevent/stop theft. Employees don't like it, but I would guess it must be legal.

Asystole RN · Aug 5, 2016

There may or may not be state laws pertaining to this.

Generally speaking and employer has search if they have a policy and there is a valid reason to do so such as suspicion of theft. Courts look down upon random searches however because that means they are searching without a valid reason. They cannot search your person nor can they detain you.

If you are detained there may be issues for the employer such as work-time compensation or even false imprisonment.

You can always say no to a search. They can always say no to your employment too.

Emergent, RN · Aug 5, 2016

I went skiing with a nurse who told me she keeps left over Toradol to use if she needs it. I couldn't believe she was telling me this, she is my friend's friend. At my hospital we have to count it, probably because people with bad backs divert for their own use.

As far as searching, that's pretty invasive. If you are a serious thief, you would hide it in your undies, unless they are going to pat you down or strip search you. I think a better plan would be surveillance cameras.

rearviewmirror, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2016

another show-and-tell that hospitals don't respect their nurses. I say we investigate the transfer of funds, benefits, bonuses of the higher-ups, why aren't we doing that? Reason why I will never work for hospital system again

dishes, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2016

A lawyer can clarify if the policy is within the law, as welll as if security guards have legal authorization to do search and seizure and if doing the searches in public is considered harassing and demeaning.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 5, 2016

I went skiing with a nurse who told me she keeps left over Toradol to use if she needs it. I couldn't believe she was telling me this, she is my friend's friend. At my hospital we have to count it, probably because people with bad backs divert for their own use.
As far as searching, that's pretty invasive. If you are a serious thief, you would hide it in your undies, unless they are going to pat you down or strip search you. I think a better plan would be surveillance cameras.

Perhaps surveillance cameras would be a better policy for employers hoping to catch petty theft; but for me, as an employee, not so much. I'd rather be subject to a bag search as I leave than wonder about where the cameras are every time I need to step into the med room to adjust my bra or fish out a popcorn kernal that tumbled into my cleavage.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 5, 2016

So my hospital has employed a stop and search policy for all employees exiting the building. They have set up a table in the lobby and have given security guards the right to stop and search any employee leaving the building. Memos have been posted on the units. One RN has already been terminated for been found with a toradol vial in pocket, this employee had a great reputation, no history of diverting and many times we nurses do have items stuffed in our pockets for quick use while on the units. I've unknowingly and unintentionally brought home fingerstick lancets, gauze, even some simple meds like motrin or Tylenol (NEVER any narcs) because especially in ED patients are frequently prescribed such medications. I am careful to empty my pockets at the end of every shift but on rare occasion small items and simple meds still make it home with me. While I fully agree that stealing from facilities is a real problem, I question how ethical it is to literally stop and search ones employees in the lobby of all places open to visitors and patients. If I were a patient or visitor I sure would not feel comfortable at a facility that had such a practice and so openly. Another RN said as she was exiting the building before she could ask the guard on duty why she was being searched he merely and swiftly grabbed her pocketbook and began rifling through it.
Theft within the hospital can surely be handled in a more sophisticated manner. Departments or individuals suspected of theft shold be monitored when absolutely necessary and addressed accordingly. I have very strong opinions about how this policy was drafted and who it actually means to scrutinize.
What if any legal ramifications does such a policy have? Is this legal?

When you were employed, you probably signed something that said you acknowledged the hospital's right to stop and search you as you were leaving. So it probably IS legal. It's a pain in the posterior, and it indicates that they don't trust you. But it also hints at their lack of trust in Edgar who works in Radiology and has been routinely sneaking X-rays out to sell for their silver. Or Ole who works as a pharmacy tech and has been sucking the morphine out of the vials and refilling them with saline before sticking the little vials back in their box of 25 and resealing the box. He makes a good living selling that morphine on the street.

I remember being stopped one time when I was wheeling a balloon pump off the unit to take it to the helipad for a patient being transferred. Security told me that the reason the transferring team didn't HAVE a balloon pump for the patient is that someone stole it off the helipad. He just called my unit and asked to speak to the charge.

I don't have a big problem with this. After it happened to me once I learned to keep my sanitary supplies in a little pouch rather than just rolling around on the bottom of my pouch. (But remind me to tell a story about a diaphragm on another thread.)

FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2016

Sounds like jail. Or an inner city high school. Same difference.

The important question here is, what would happen if you refused to be searched?

If a guard refused to let you leave that is false imprisonment. If a guard put his/her hands on you anyway, that is assault. And it doesn't matter what you signed, because you cannot sign a contract that allows another individual to assault you or falsely imprison you.

You might get fired though.

To the argument: "But you probably signed something saying that you agreed to be stopped and frisked"

You may have signed something like that. But even if you did, it does not give a security guard the right to perform stop and frisk against your will.

To the argument: "But amusement parks and baseball fields search people and belongings at admission all the time"

Yes, they do, and your consent to that search is a condition of you entering the premises. You can refuse, but then you can't come in. They are allowed to keep you out, that's not imprisonment.

I don't think this policy will last. But I wouldn't want to work there in the meantime.

SororAKS, ADN, RN · Aug 5, 2016

When you were employed, you probably signed something that said you acknowledged the hospital's right to stop and search you as you were leaving. So it probably IS legal. It's a pain in the posterior, and it indicates that they don't trust you. But it also hints at their lack of trust in Edgar who works in Radiology and has been routinely sneaking X-rays out to sell for their silver. Or Ole who works as a pharmacy tech and has been sucking the morphine out of the vials and refilling them with saline before sticking the little vials back in their box of 25 and resealing the box. He makes a good living selling that morphine on the street.
I remember being stopped one time when I was wheeling a balloon pump off the unit to take it to the helipad for a patient being transferred. Security told me that the reason the transferring team didn't HAVE a balloon pump for the patient is that someone stole it off the helipad. He just called my unit and asked to speak to the charge.
I don't have a big problem with this. After it happened to me once I learned to keep my sanitary supplies in a little pouch rather than just rolling around on the bottom of my pouch. (But remind me to tell a story about a diaphragm on another thread.)

I'd love to hear about the diaphragm :)

I do wonder, though...what in the world would someone do with a balloon pump? What reason would they have for stealing one???? Curious.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 5, 2016

I'd love to hear about the diaphragm :)
I do wonder, though...what in the world would someone do with a balloon pump? What reason would they have for stealing one???? Curious.

Since it was on the helipad, I'm assuming that it was stolen by a crew whose institution was chronically short of balloon pumps. They probably hid it in their department somewhere so they always had one to use when they needed it.