Section 22-B9002. EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

 

9002.1Policy: The PBC shall maintain an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) addressing the needs of employees. The guidelines of the EAP program are as follows:

 

(a)PBC shall maintain an Employee Assistance Program to assist employees who develop emotional/behavioral/dependency problems that adversely affect their job performance;

 

(b)The purpose of the EAP is restoration of health with full recovery by motivating the employee to seek, accept, and benefit from the treatment provided by or through the Employee Assistance Program;

 

(c)An employee may at any time make a self-referral, however, when an employee’s job performance, attendance, or punctuality begins to suffer, the manager’s role is to identify the problem and utilize that performance as a motivator for the employee to seek help and treatment through the EAP; and

 

(d)The Employee Assistance Program shall not be a substitute for the disciplinary process.

 

9002.2Procedures: The following actions shall be taken for managerial referral to the Employee Assistance Program:

 

(a)The manager shall ensure that each employee has a clear understanding of what is expected of him/her in terms of work performance and attendance by way of job description, skills evaluation, and previously documented counseling;

 

(b)The manager shall document, and discipline, if appropriate, all behavior, attendance, and job performance that fails to meet established standards;

 

(c)The manager shall meet with the employee to discuss job performance, attendance, etc. The employee shall be informed of the concern the manager has regarding his/her performance. The employee shall also be informed if improvement does not occur, that disciplinary action may be necessary. A plan for improvement whereby the employee is part of the solution, i.e., offers suggestions and partakes in problem-solving, may be discussed at this time. The manager may indicate that the Employee Assistance Program is available and the employee may elect to go at this time;

 

(d)Should job performance continue to deteriorate, and severe disciplinary action be warranted, the manager after consultation with Human Resources may impose a time frame as to when the employee must respond with an EAP appointment;

 

(e)After the employee has notified the manager of the appointment, the employee shall sign an EAP release form which may be either faxed to the attention of the counselor or brought to the EAP by the employee. The counselor and employee shall establish and work toward goals so that he/she may achieve working potential. The EAP counselor shall keep the manager abreast of the employee’s progress regarding the established working goals, while keeping all personal information such as diagnosis and treatment strictly confidential; and

 

(f)Any employee requiring time off for rehabilitation treatment, either self or EAP referred, shall notify his/her manager regarding the time out prior to admission. Documentation of successful completion of a rehabilitation program shall be presented to Occupational Health or the Human Resources prior to returning to work.

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 45 DCR 7353, 7412 (October 9, 1998).