Chief Human Resource Officer Ed Sisson also complained that “Glover improperly tried to obstruct a random drug test.”
Beggs & Lane attorney Russell Van Sickle did not find that the Deputy Fire Joe Glover did anything improper. His narrative showed that Glover did contest why he was being tested.
Glover told Inweekly that he had never been tested before as a chief, and he was also wary because he worried it might be retaliation for his EEOC complaint.
According to Van Sickle, the City should not have agreed with the union in the collective bargaining unit that the non-bargaining unit personnel would participate in random drug tests. However, Glover did take test.
Van Sickle explained in his narrative that a third-party vender selects who in the Fire Department is to be randomly drug tested using a computer program that randomizes persons originated by social security number. The vender then notifies the City Nurse, who notifies the selected participants.
Fire fighters are in as separate random pool than other employees. Sisson incorrectly identified to Glover that he was being tested under the City’s overall drug testing program. Glover’s name was actually pulled from the firefighter subset.
Inweekly has learned that police officers, because of their collective bargaining agreement, are not randomly tested. In 2015, non-bargaining unit personnel of the PPD were tested either.
Sisson told the attorney that this was “another incident where Glover was unnecessarily obstructive or critical.”
No recommendations were made by the attorney. He had no finding that Glover did anything improper.
This could have be resolved if City Administrator Eric Olson or Sisson did a better job of explaining the drug testing program.
Did this issue warrant having an outside attorney investigate? Read DrugTest.