Do you disclose you're in monitoring during the interview or if you get an offer?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.

The topic is pretty straightforward. I've always been advised that when job searching, a good time to disclose that you are in a monitoring program is at the close of an interview when you think you have caught the interest of the prospective employer.

However, this seems like self-sabotage to me. If you think you've caught the interest of the employer, why finish the interview off on a note that raises the suspicion of past substance use or mental illness? I feel as though this is not a good impression to leave.

It seems to me, and people may disagree with this, that a better time to mention that you are in a monitoring program is when you have received an offer. Where I live, monitoring programs do not impose restrictions on shifts or overtime, so I feel that, as long as you do not have a narcotics restriction, then the fact that you participate in a confidential monitoring program should not really have any bearing on an employer's decision to hire you. So why tell them before you receive an offer?

As well, I feel that an employer would be very unlikely to rescind a formal offer once they have given it, by mere virtue of you informing them that you're with such a program, out of concern of violating discrimination laws against persons with disabilities, which indeed apply to persons who receive treatment for addiction or mental illness.

What are your thoughts on this? What have you done in the past and what were your experiences?

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

If I had an interviewee fail to disclose a material fact like this until I had made an offer, which is essentially lying by omission, the interviewee could rest assured that the offer will indeed be revoked and I will have a poor opinion of your ethical character. If you bring it up in the interview and we could talk about if we can work around it or not, I will have a much better opinion of you. I point out that I have hired people in recovery, but they were upfront about it from the outset of the hiring process.

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I disclose during interview when I have decided I want the job. Sometimes I would interview where I know I didnt want to work just to practice telling about it! I have always got an offer on the interviews I had. Its about salesmanship. Got to sell yourself, your strong recovery foundation and your monitoring program and how it is helping you prove you are safe to practice!

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I agree that, if an applicant went through the entire interview process without mentioning this, and then sprung it on (me; the organization) only after an offer had been made, I would consider that withholding important pertinent info and that would give a v. poor impression of the applicant.

In the one situation in which I've been involved in interviewing and hiring someone with a history, that individual was v. open about the history from the beginning of the interview (and had ample documentation of the meetings, educational programs, treatment program(s), etc., she had completed successfully and the hoops she had jumped through to regain her license). We were v. impressed with this person's honesty and openness about her past and the steps she had taken to overcome it, and we hired her. That would certainly not have been the case if she had attempted to withhold such important information about her past, and we only found out about it later.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

When I was in diversion over ten years ago we were advised by our case managers not to reveal we were in diversion until we had a job offer unless we were specifically asked during the interview. It was what I planned to do during my first job interview when I was able to return to work. I ultimately laid it all out during the interview and guess what I got hired. I was the first nurse in the program hired by that DON and their have been over 17 nurses hired there since.

hppy

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
If I had an interviewee fail to disclose a material fact like this until I had made an offer, which is essentially lying by omission, the interviewee could rest assured that the offer will indeed be revoked and I will have a poor opinion of your ethical character. If you bring it up in the interview and we could talk about if we can work around it or not, I will have a much better opinion of you. I point out that I have hired people in recovery, but they were upfront about it from the outset of the hiring process.

You haven't actually provided any substance here. If it doesn't affect you or the employee's ability to practice, why do you need to know? Also, people with addiction and mental illness are covered by the ADA.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
I agree that, if an applicant went through the entire interview process without mentioning this, and then sprung it on (me; the organization) only after an offer had been made, I would consider that withholding important pertinent info and that would give a v. poor impression of the applicant.

In the one situation in which I've been involved in interviewing and hiring someone with a history, that individual was v. open about the history from the beginning of the interview (and had ample documentation of the meetings, educational programs, treatment program(s), etc., she had completed successfully and the hoops she had jumped through to regain her license). We were v. impressed with this person's honesty and openness about her past and the steps she had taken to overcome it, and we hired her. That would certainly not have been the case if she had attempted to withhold such important information about her past, and we only found out about it later.

But you haven't actually said why this is important information about a person's past. Not everyone in an assistance program was diverting. Not everyone in an assistance program suffers from addiction. Some people are in such programs purely because of mental illness. Some are in it because they have a physical disability even.

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.
You haven't actually provided any substance here. If it doesn't affect you or the employee's ability to practice, why do you need to know? Also, people with addiction and mental illness are covered by the ADA.

Oh, but it can affect my institution and the employee's ability to safely practice. If you have a prior substance problem, should I assign you to an area with easy(ier) access to controlled substances? If you are in treatment for a paraphilia related to children, should I assign you to pediatrics? If you are on restriction due to poor vision, should I assign you to the medication prep room? My liability as an institution is greatly increased if I knew or should have known about these issues, and failed to hire/retain/assign/supervise accordingly. Also, you need to brush up on the case law surrounding the ADA, ability of the employer to know about and accommodate disabilities, especially related to mental health and substance use in occupations requiring a high degree of safety; and conditional offers of employment. Anyone thinking that the ADA to be a 'get out of jail free card' in these situations is in for a surprise.

After I make my conditional offer of employment and send you off for drug testing and order the background and licensure check, any material problems or omissions that you failed to report or that I subsequently discover will most likely lead to the offer being withdrawn or discipline up to and including termination. Restrictions on your license definitely fall in that category.

Not to mention that any ADA issues to the contrary, people are going to simply think of you as a liar. I have been interviewing and hiring people for a couple of decades now, and I am far more impressed with you as a person if you tell me these things from the outset so I can work with it. Sometimes, for the good of the patients and the institution, it is decided to not hire or retain that employee; and sometimes we can hire and retain the employee. You can choose to not hire or retain someone for a whole lot of reasons that will pass legal scrutiny. Lying to me guarantees that such a reason will be found.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
Oh, but it can affect my institution and the employee's ability to safely practice. If you have a prior substance problem, should I assign you to an area with easy(ier) access to controlled substances?

Not everyone in assistance program has substance abuse problems. There are other reasons for being in such programs. You're making an assumption about the participants in such programs accompanied by a lack of evidence. I mean this only to be helpful: do you require that I break down the original post in more basic terminology?

If you are in treatment for a paraphilia related to children, should I assign you to pediatrics? If you are on restriction due to poor vision, should I assign you to the medication prep room? My liability as an institution is greatly increased if I knew or should have known about these issues, and failed to hire/retain/assign/supervise accordingly. Also, you need to brush up on the case law surrounding the ADA, ability of the employer to know about and accommodate disabilities, especially related to mental health and substance use in occupations requiring a high degree of safety; and conditional offers of employment. Anyone thinking that the ADA to be a 'get out of jail free card' in these situations is in for a surprise.
Your statements about child paraphelia and vision impairment are false equivalencies and are not germane to the topic at hand. As well, the ADA covers those receiving treatment for addiction and mental illness and despite whatever relation they may have to a job, you are still prevented from directly asking about these things.

After I make my conditional offer of employment and send you off for drug testing and order the background and licensure check, any material problems or omissions that you failed to report or that I subsequently discover will most likely lead to the offer being withdrawn or discipline up to and including termination. Restrictions on your license definitely fall in that category.

License restrictions are not the topic of this thread. This thread pertains strictly to confidential assistance programs. The majority of the people in these programs have fully active, unencumbered licenses without any disciplinary action or history thereof. If you've been in the hiring business for as long as you say, then how come you don't seem to know the difference between these things?

Not to mention that any ADA issues to the contrary, people are going to simply think of you as a liar. I have been interviewing and hiring people for a couple of decades now, and I am far more impressed with you as a person if you tell me these things from the outset so I can work with it. Sometimes, for the good of the patients and the institution, it is decided to not hire or retain that employee; and sometimes we can hire and retain the employee. You can choose to not hire or retain someone for a whole lot of reasons that will pass legal scrutiny. Lying to me guarantees that such a reason will be found.

Don't take this the wrong way but if I'm reading your profile correctly, you aren't even a nurse. You're just a risk manager -- a civilian. This thread primarily applies to nursing managers who themselves are licensed professionals and who are in a position of hiring other nurses. It also, if you care to read carefully, applies strictly to nurses in assistance programs who do not have practice restrictions. On that note, if you can answer what purpose is served by stating that you are a participant in such an assistance program during an interview, I'm willing to hear you out. Otherwise, your perspective doesn't seem to be adding anything to our conversation.

I also sense that you may be carrying around some baggage, based on some of your phrasing -- "we could talk about if we can work around it or not." Work around what?

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

So you post in a thread about recovery, and speak of monitoring programs, narcotics restrictions, addiction and mental illness, and now say that we should ignore that and you are really speaking of what sounds to be an employee assistance program. Perhaps you should edit your original post to make that clear. I wish you the best in your journey to recovery, and remember, denial is not just a river in Egypt.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.

Assistance programs are synonymous with monitoring programs. The monitoring program in my state is actually called the Healthcare Assistance Education and Intervention Network (HAVEN). They monitor you and assist you in recovery. They also manage your treatment. The alternative to the program is discipline by the board, if so indicated.

They certainly cannot be called employee assistance programs either as the contract you sign with them takes effect without any regard to your employment status. In most states, the monitoring program is an independent nonprofit organization that is created through state law and works loosely with the states licensure board and receives referrals from them. Most commonly participants have struggled with substance abuse but they may also be in the program for mental or physical impairments to their practice.

So, this thread is not a bait and switch ; rather, you seemed to have needed more education on the subject, which is okay.

Also I made it very clear from the outset of this thread that I am talking about people who do not have restrictions on their license. You may need to reread.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
You haven't actually provided any substance here. If it doesn't affect you or the employee's ability to practice, why do you need to know? Also, people with addiction and mental illness are covered by the ADA.

Actually when an employer hires a nurse in Diversion they agree to be a work place monitor and they have responsibilities to the BRN so they do need to know if you are in Diversion. Plus you need to read the ADA because while it covers mental illness it does not cover addicts as a protected class.

Hppy

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