Legal, HR issues with roommates- An outsider's opinion

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Anonymous

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I have been in management with another midsize pharma company for well over ten years.
Your thread caught my attention since we went through this issue six years ago.

HR, Legal and C-level types in our industry were advised circa 2005-06 to make sure employees were not mandated to have roommates at company sponsored meetings. This recommendation was based on legal and risk mitigation for the company.

At our company, in a four year period, we had roommate incidents that included: two reported thefts, one accusation of sexual misconduct (no charges filed but a large legal settlement was paid by the company) and one employee who nearly perished ( one week in the ICU) after contracting a rare tropical disease from their roommate who took a vacation to Africa before a company meeting.

The list of liabilities and pitfalls are too numerous to mention.

Unfortunately, there is a portion of the population that has a dark, sinister side regardless of their education, looks and employment status. Companies can not be 100% certain that a "bad" person has infiltrated their ranks.
The brutal murder by Purdue Pharmaceuticals employee Shelia Davalloo in 2002 of her coworker highlights my point.

By what I have read it seems like your company has little or no guidance on this issue. Again, it is not advised to have compulsory roommates at meetings nor should employees be financially penalized for having single-room accommodations.

I hope this helps.
 












There was a tragic case here is the southeast where one employee was required to bunk with another at a company sales meeting. It was in another industry and happened about five years ago.

The one employee was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, but the company was not aware of this because of medical privacy laws.

During the night, this employee had the delusion that his coworker was Satan and ended up putting a plastic bag over the head of his sleeping coworker and suffocating him to "Save the World". The victim was a family man with four children and well respected in his community.

I read in the paper that there was a massive civil suit filed by the victim's wife but not sure what it was settled for. All to save $75.00 on a stupid hotel room. How SAD!
 












OMG, reading all these posts about roommates and everyone desperately hoping someone in Richmond gives a damn, or that the compliance/legal angle will finally make a difference, is really too funny.

If you haven't been here long-- know that CL's have asked repeatedly, in EVERY feedback for every POA (especially when they used to collect written lengthy forms at the meetings, unlike the online surveys now that have limited fields) to have our own rooms. After Barcelona, we were SURE RBP was going to back down. They haven't.

The ABM's are all about keeping their heads down and not giving any honest feedback up the food chain. So it's not surprising that they don't support the CL's or repeat to Richmond all the issues. And they pick the hotels we stay in at our regional/area meetings, and they certainly don't want to hear it if you have any problems.

Look at actions vs. words. The words say "we respect the field. you guys are great and pay our bills with all your hard work". The actions say: "we don't care if you get sleep. We treat you disrespectfully. We don't think you are adults."

Complainers are likely to get pressure from ABM's and will soon be targeted for firing.

And you'll be walking past the Richmond leadership sitting in first class if you are so lucky to sit on the same plane with them.
 






Anonymous said:
OMG, reading all these posts about roommates and everyone desperately hoping someone in Richmond gives a damn, or that the compliance/legal angle will finally make a difference, is really too funny.

If you haven't been here long-- know that CL's have asked repeatedly, in EVERY feedback for every POA (especially when they used to collect written lengthy forms at the meetings, unlike the online surveys now that have limited fields) to have our own rooms. After Barcelona, we were SURE RBP was going to back down. They haven't.

The ABM's are all about keeping their heads down and not giving any honest feedback up the food chain. So it's not surprising that they don't support the CL's or repeat to Richmond all the issues. And they pick the hotels we stay in at our regional/area meetings, and they certainly don't want to hear it if you have any problems.

Look at actions vs. words. The words say "we respect the field. you guys are great and pay our bills with all your hard work". The actions say: "we don't care if you get sleep. We treat you disrespectfully. We don't think you are adults."

Complainers are likely to get pressure from ABM's and will soon be targeted for firing.

And you'll be walking past the Richmond leadership sitting in first class if you are so lucky to sit on the same plane with them.
Click to expand...

Apparently you don't work for the company as it was announced that we will have private rooms for the POA. Nice try! "A" for effort...
 






Anonymous said:
Apparently you don't work for the company as it was announced that we will have private rooms for the POA. Nice try! "A" for effort...
Click to expand...

I left in 2012 so I did not hear. Wow, I'm glad to hear that they finally gave in, because my friends still at RBP for the January 2013 Regional Meetings were fed up. And it may well have been Javier and Brandy who made it happen since fear and legal seems to be driving the bus in Richmond. Is Brandy still there? Deer in the headlights...

Got a new job at a company that treats me well, and way less drama and BS.
 












Anonymous said:
I left in 2012 so I did not hear. Wow, I'm glad to hear that they finally gave in, because my friends still at RBP for the January 2013 Regional Meetings were fed up. And it may well have been Javier and Brandy who made it happen since fear and legal seems to be driving the bus in Richmond. Is Brandy still there? Deer in the headlights...

Got a new job at a company that treats me well, and way less drama and BS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the regional meeting accommodations were awful! Nothing could top the bathrooms in Barcelona though!

Congrats on the new job. Pharma?
 












Anonymous said:
I have been in management with another midsize pharma company for well over ten years.
Your thread caught my attention since we went through this issue six years ago.

HR, Legal and C-level types in our industry were advised circa 2005-06 to make sure employees were not mandated to have roommates at company sponsored meetings. This recommendation was based on legal and risk mitigation for the company.

At our company, in a four year period, we had roommate incidents that included: two reported thefts, one accusation of sexual misconduct (no charges filed but a large legal settlement was paid by the company) and one employee who nearly perished ( one week in the ICU) after contracting a rare tropical disease from their roommate who took a vacation to Africa before a company meeting.

The list of liabilities and pitfalls are too numerous to mention.

Unfortunately, there is a portion of the population that has a dark, sinister side regardless of their education, looks and employment status. Companies can not be 100% certain that a "bad" person has infiltrated their ranks.
The brutal murder by Purdue Pharmaceuticals employee Shelia Davalloo in 2002 of her coworker highlights my point.

By what I have read it seems like your company has little or no guidance on this issue. Again, it is not advised to have compulsory roommates at meetings nor should employees be financially penalized for having single-room accommodations.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/After-10-years-murder-trial-to-begin-2681404.php
 






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