On December 2, 2014 Superior Court handed down the decision of Commonwealth v. Bizzel. On November 25, 2014 a different panel of Superior Court handed down the decision of Commonwealth v. Cardwell. In Bizzel, the defendant was found guilty of selling drugs in a...
Year: 2014
No More Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences for Guns and Drugs
In the 1980s and early 1990s firearm related murders and the war against drugs were sweeping across the country. These social problems prompted Pennsylvania's legislature to pass mandatory minimum criminal sentencing statutes. A mandatory minimum prison sentence...
Employee Assistance Drug Programs — Be Careful What You Disclose
This blog shall focus on the new phenomenon of employment assistance (EAP”) programs. Employee/professionals are introduced to these programs in the context of positive drug tests in the work place. The extent of self-disclosure and participation within these...
Admitting To Unethical Behavior Without Counsel Will Cost You Your Professional License.
The Commonwealth Court, on November 6, 2014, handed down Van Ness v. Bureau of Occupational Affairs. This decision is a text book discussion of specific conduct upon which Pennsylvania’s licensing boards will base their decision to strip a licensee of their...
Employment Manuals Regarding Drug Testing and Evidence of Drug Use
A recent spate of Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Board of Review decisions does not bode well for the professional licenses. Each case addresses employees fighting for unemployment benefits stemming from drug related employment actions. The two cases are...
Automatic Suspensions, The Drug Act, and How to Avoid Loosing Your License
This week's Commonwealth Court decisions in two companion cases, Packet v. Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, are really important. The cases are instructive on what not to do when you receive notice of a pending disciplinary action from your licensing...
The PHMP and Medical Authorizations
Every license investigations includes a PHMP case manager and a caseworker who insures compliance with paper work completion. The first document sent to every targeted licensee includes medical releases. This intentional. These documents are attached to the back of...
Illegal or Legal Pot Use and the Medical Professional in Pennsylvania
Impaired medical professionals caring for the public is a main concern of marijuana legalization, medical or otherwise, to which the states’ legislatures’ attention has been drawn. What was typically not-to-fertile an enforcement area has become overridden...
Mandatory Drug Testing of Doctors Will Be Here
California is about to pass a law allowing random mandatory drug and alcohol tests for all physicians regardless of an employment or other event triggering reason. While Pennsylvania's regulatory scheme is not yet this aggressive, DEA, federal OSHA, and Pennsylvania's...
Pennsylvania Superior Court Requires Warrant to Search Smart Phones, too
I wrote several weeks ago about the United States Supreme Court's decision in Riley v. California. There, the Court required a search warrant issued upon probable cause prior to police conducting a search of a lawfully detained person's smart phone. On July 11, 2014,...