A pharmacy technician is suing her employer for traumatizing her during a recent training session.

Recently reported on FindLaw, a New Jersey pharmacy technician claims she was traumatized from a mock hold up arranged by her employer. The gunman told the technician that he had taken another employee hostage and demanded the pain narcotic OxyContin. Later she found out that the hold up was fake and the employer arranged it for a training exercise.

The technician claims that she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder arising from this training exercise.  The technician’s claim rests on the fact that she was not notified in advance of the training drill.

Employers need to be cognizant of how these training exercises will affect their employees and try and prevent any undue stress or hardship.  There is a balance between realism and effectiveness that must be calculated for any training exercises.  In this case the effectiveness of the training seems to have been significantly overshadowed by the trauma caused by its realism. 

See Also

• FindLaw article
  FindLaw article

The CDC has some very good information for employers and employees concerning this years influenza season.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recently updated their website with a Communication Toolkit for Businesses and Employers to prepare for the upcoming influenza season.  With the concern of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) coming back around this season, the CDC has some helpful information for employers and employees to help prevent the spread of the flu.  Included in the toolkit are communication pieces addressing steps that employers can take to keep their workplace healthy, suggested actions to design an influenza plan, posters, and notices to employees on staying healthy during this flu season.  The CDC webpage where the toolkit can be found is here: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/toolkit/

StaffScapes highly recommends that our clients review these suggestions and create an influenza plan to prepare for this season.  Employees should not come in to work if they are infected and businesses should plan for having higher than normal employee leaves this year.  Preparing now can help businesses get through the trying times that happen when higher percentages of employees are missing from work.