As seen in Long Island Business News, October 5th, 2018

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By: Adina Genn October 5, 2018

The allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are sparking a national dialog about sexual abuse and misconduct. And that conversation is seeping into the workplace.

It’s not that surprising, when you consider that one in three women and one in six men have experienced some form of contact sexual violence, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

“That’s a lot of people listening to triggering dialog,” said Aoifa O’Donnell, CEO of the Hauppauge-based human resources consulting company National EAP, and an expert in employee behavior.

And now, the nation is riveted on the U.S. Senate’s pending decision to confirm Kavanaugh or believe the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Among the issues being confronted by Americans is whether a sexual assault was perpetrated on a 15-year-old girl by a teenage boy who would one day be nominated to a lifetime position on the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Everyone has a stake in this,” said O’Donnell, adding the reaction to the national spectacle is just beginning to seep into the workplace.

The discussions coincide with the first anniversary of a crystalized #MeToo movement, where victims of sexual misconduct in Hollywood, corporate America and the media began to speak out.

The dialog also comes at a time when New York State employers must adopt anti-sexual harassment training and institute training programs by Oct. 9, 2018, with training completed before Oct. 9, 2019.

Anti-sexual harassment issues are “a very hot topic right now,” said Tony Dulgerian, an associate at Nixon Peabody, a law firm with offices in Jericho where he specializes in labor and employment. “Now may be a good time to revisit those and be sure employees are aware that sexual harassment in the workplace will not be tolerated.”

For some, the training can’t come soon enough.

For example, for victims of sexual assault, the current national dialog leading up to and beyond the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing can spur flashbacks that can amount to post traumatic stress disorder, experts said.

Specific portions of the testimony may trigger reactions. Hearing “bits and pieces” about “being pushed” or “choked” or a phrase that included “covered their mouth” can result in “unlocking old thoughts of memories they thought they put away,” said Dr. Mitchell Schare, a professor of psychology, and director of the Phobia and Trauma Clinic and Saltman Community Services Center at Hofstra University.

Those affected might be “more emotional, less attentive or more distracted,” Schare said.

This can be true for those who agree or disagree that Ford was a credible witness. They are still hearing accounts of sexual assault.

“From a mental health perspective, the current dialogue is a PTSD triggering event, affecting those who have been subject to unwarranted sexual behavior,” O’Donnell said. “Our concern is we know people are suffering.”

While Kavanaugh vehemently denied any charges of sexual assault at the Senate hearing, many victims connected to Ford’s testimony and felt empowered to recount their stories.

Those who have experienced assault “are looking to see if whether their experiences really matter in the eyes of the law and government,” O’Donnell pointed out. “Employers need to be aware that the national dialog is affecting employees.”

This national moment can prompt people to wonder if in their past, they’ve been too aggressive, Schare said. And it can be a troubling moment too for those who have had to cope with charges of misconduct.

“If people really feel they had been wronged in some way, they might want to speak with a therapist, or human resources, if [an allegation] was through the organization,” Schare said.

And when complaints surface, employers must be prepared, experts warned.

“This is why we need a fair processes that’s consistent – whether you’re the accused or the person reporting,” O’Donnell said. Employers should “take their time to make a fair assessment. Everyone is entitled to employment and to have a fair shot at maintaining that.”

As the nation continues to digest the hearing and subsequent coverage, this might be a good time for HR to reach out as needed to say, “You don’t seem to be yourself,” and offer to help the person connect with resources, Schare said.

As the dialog continues, HR experts can consider reminding workers about the organization’s employee assistance program, or send out a general email about therapy service covered under their benefits.

“I think it would be well-received,” Schare said.

If anxiety is triggered, there could be potential disability, Dulgerian said. If an employee asks for an accommodation, solutions might include “moving a workspace away from certain employees, or changing a shift so the person is not working with the employee,” he added.

And in New York City, the Safe and Sick Time Act, amended in May, enables workers “to take time off to seek services” to address matters such as domestic violence or sexual offence, Dulgerian said. Employers “should be aware of these laws and how they work,” he noted.

Experts agree that it’s a good time to be proactive.

National EAP, for example, sent a webinar to clients to forward to employees. Among the webinar’s recommendations: Take breaks from the news and social media; take care of ourselves through fitness and other enjoyable activities; and ask for help when needed.

And keep in mind that “there’s a very good chance you’re working next to someone who had a terrible experience,” O’Donnell said. People “should be mindful about how we talk about it.”

It’s political for a lot of people, she added.

But for others, it’s personal.

As seen in Newsday, May 11th, 2018

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By Carrie Mason-Draffen Updated May 11, 2018 1:18 PM

Business owner Jeffery Capazzi has seen Long Island’s opioid crisis up close among his workers.

“We had certain people being sent to rehab,” said Capazzi, president of the Jobin Organization, a Hauppauge construction company that makes and installs exterior wall systems. “We’ve had people that we’ve lost through overdoses.”

Greg Demetriou, president and chief executive of marketing company Lorraine Gregory Communications in Edgewood, said he and his staff were devastated when the granddaughter of a worker died of an overdose last year. A childhood friend of one of the company’s graphic designers also died of an overdose last year.

“When such news is received it puts a heaviness in the air,” Demetriou said. “Even those not directly affected feel devastated for their co-workers.”

The opioid crisis is taking a toll on Long Island’s companies, executives and experts say. Companies that have lost workers to the epidemic face the daunting tasks of comforting a traumatized workforce. They also deal with the reduced productivity of addicted workers or employees whose loved ones are addicted. And they and their employees struggle with the stigma of drug addiction, which experts say stifles open communication about the problem.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report last year said that employees in their prime working years, ages 25 to 54, had the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in 2016. Overdose deaths began climbing, as people addicted to prescription opioids started feeding their habits with illegal opioid derivatives like heroin and fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid that has become a popular component in the sales of illicit street drugs, the report said.

In fact, 70 percent of people with a substance abuse disorder are in the workforce, said the National Safety Council, based in Itasca, Illinois.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers last year estimated that the opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $504 billion, or 2.8 percent of the total value of goods and services produced in this country in 2015.

Statewide, 54 percent of New York residents said they have been touched by the opioid epidemic because of a family member or colleague who has abused opioids, according to a recent Siena College poll, a result the researchers called “shocking.”

And Long Island has been hit hard as well. Law enforcement and medical examiner officials estimate that 600 people on the Island died last year from overdoses, up from the previous record high of 555 in 2016.

“Many employers I work with are struggling with the workplace impacts of opioid addiction,” attorney Kathryn Russo, who heads the drug testing and substance-abuse-management group at law firm Jackson Lewis in Melville, told a U.S. House of Representatives joint subcommittee focused on drugs  in the workplace in February.

In a recent interview she said that in the last two years she has received, on average, one to two calls a week from employers about an employee who had overdosed or passed out.

“Those kinds of calls used to be so out of the ordinary a few years ago,” she said.

All local employers should be very concerned about this epidemic, a counseling expert said.

“It’s not just the teenagers, although on Long island our kids are really being impacted terribly,” said Aoifa O’Donnell, chief executive of National EAP, a Hauppauge training and employee-services company. “It’s men in their 40s, women in their 40s. It doesn’t discriminate because it starts with a prescription.”

The Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group, last October co-sponsored a forum to call attention to the impact of opioid abuse on local communities and businesses.

“The opioid epidemic is not only ruining the lives of young people and families on Long Island and throughout the country but also our business community, where millions of dollars are lost in productivity,” said Kevin Law, the group’s president and chief executive.

Capazzi, the construction company president, said that addicted workers disappear for hours or don’t show up at all.

“Once they get that bug, nothing else is important,” he said.

And their loved ones sometimes live in fear around the clock.

“They are sleep-deprived, stressed and frightened,” said Jeffrey Reynolds, president and chief executive of the Family and Children’s Association, a Mineola-based group whose social services include programs for people with substance-abuse disorders. “Family members tell me, ‘I just wait for the phone to ring.’ That’s a rough way to live.”

Bill Reitzig, director of business development at Fabco, a Farmingdale storm-water filters company, said that for years he lived in fear of getting such a call about his son Billy, who became addicted to opioids in his teens after being prescribed them to treat an arm broken during a baseball game.

“The worry as a parent . . . is just overwhelming at times,” he said. “It takes away from your focus sometimes at work and a lot of times at home.”

On April 22, 2016, he said, he got the call at work and later learned that his son, who was 25, had died of an apparent heroin overdose.

Yet, many companies and their employees choose to remain silent, rather than intervene early or seek help before a tragedy happens, because of the stigma attached to addiction, experts said.

“We are just now beginning to recognize the effect [of the epidemic] on the business community,” said Jamie Bogenshutz, executive director of the YES Community Counseling Center, a drug-treatment center based in Massapequa

The Long Island Community Foundation, a Melville-based administrative service for charitable donors, is considering co-funding a study to gauge the economic impact of the crisis on Long Island businesses.

We “are engaging business leaders and other stakeholders to join together to fight this drain on our workforce, economy and neighborhoods,” said David Okorn, executive director of the foundation, which co-sponsored the opioid awareness forum.

Reynolds of the Family and Children’s Association said that knowledge of the financial impact would open up more discussion and action on the part of employers.

“I think they would be less in denial if they understood the economic impact this crisis is having on their businesses,” Reynolds said.

Though the crisis has cut across business sectors, employees in certain industries like construction are more vulnerable to opioid abuse because of the high rate of injuries, experts said. The industry is one of the Island’s highest-paying, state Labor Department data show.

Those workers “are more likely to have more work-related accidents and, therefore, . . . are more likely to have been exposed to pain pills,” said Dr. Richard Rosenthal, director of the division of addiction psychiatry at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

As grim as the situation is, some employers are reluctant to talk about it. And their employees are reluctant to admit to an addiction and get help.

“It’s hard enough for families to open up the lines of communication with others about a loved one who is addicted,” said Genevieve Weber Gilmore, an associate professor of counseling at Hofstra University in Hempstead. “So for companies who work every day to maintain their reputation in the community, that stigma also applies.”

As for employees, “A lot of people are afraid they are going to lose their jobs if they get help, not knowing that treatment is confidential,” said Bogenshutz.

Also making the battle difficult on Long Island is that 90 percent of the Island’s 97,400 businesses have fewer than 20 employees. The smaller the company, the less likely it is prepared to offer resources to help employees get treatments, experts said.

“Because they have few employees, they may not have any training for signs and symptoms,” Bogenshutz said.

But it is so important for employers to take the initiative, O’Donnell of National EAP said.

“What we need to do is move the addiction out of the dark and into the light, and the workplace is typically the best way to make that happen,” she said, because a person’s livelihood is at stake.

Some employers like Capazzi and Demetriou said they speak up about the issue and hope to encourage their fellow employers to do the  same.

“I do everything I can to mention it, to talk about it,” said Demetriou. “I don’t know the mentality of business owners who don’t want to speak about it.”

It is important for all of Long Island’s companies to go on the offensive in the opioid war, he said: “If we don’t get the coordination and the help from the business community, we will never be successful in the fight.”

Fostering a drug-free workplace

• Recognize workplace problems that may be related to alcohol and other drugs.
• Make sure your medical benefits give employees access to drug treatment.
• Make employees aware of community drug takeback days.
• Host on-site support groups or education sessions.
• Educate employees about drug hotlines.
• Establish a random drug-testing policy.
• Refer employees who have problems with drugs for counseling.
• Protect employee confidentiality.
• Create a culture that is supportive of people in recovery.

Source: Family and Children’s Association and National EAP

As seen in Long Island Pulse, January 7th, 2016

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beth ann clyde | JANUARY 7, 2016

The office snake. You thought he only existed in movies and on TV, but then it happens: You spent days burning the midnight oil working on a great idea to pitch to your boss, excitedly told your co-worker all about it and at the big meeting, he steals your thunder and passes it off as his own. Your boss loves it, of course. You’re fuming.

Dealing with a backstabbing co-worker can feel like walking a tightrope. You don’t want to come off as bitter or petty or a tattletale to your boss or HR. Every time you vent about it to your officemate, you feel like a hypocrite, but you can’t help it.

“A backstabber is somebody who is not trustworthy and may intentionally or unintentionally hurt you,” says Aoifa O’Donnell, CEO of the National Employee Assistance Program, which is based in Hauppauge.

There are three common types: gossipers, credit-takers and flat out liars. All three can make your experience at work a negative one. But, since it’s a new year and you vow to keep the positive vibes flowing, we ask O’Donnell to share tips to help you handle and move forward from a difficult work situation with your head held high.

The First Step

When you hear a colleague has been talking about you or encounter a situation where the person lies about or takes credit for your work, try to resolve the situation quickly. “If it’s safe to do so, confront the person right away,” says O’Donnell. “I would seek to have a witness if possible or some kind of e-mail evidence of your concern.”

When To Go Higher Up

If that doesn’t work or you feel the person is a physical threat, go up the ladder. “Your direct supervisor is the person you go to if you need assistance. If you don’t trust your direct supervisor or you feel your direct supervisor won’t listen to you appropriately in the way you desire, you can go to human resources.”

Don’t Be Tone Deaf

Whether you’re speaking directly to the backstabber or going up the ladder, you want to remain tactful, respectful, unemotional and offer solutions. That can be hard in a situation where emotions are high and you feel someone has done damage to a professional image you have worked so hard to earn, but it’s essential. “You need to be the professional,” O’Donnell said. “It’s hurtful and emotional but the best advocates keep a cool head, calm heart and the voice that says, ‘I need help resolving the situation. Every human resources person wants to hear that the employee is seeking a solution.” Another tip: bring evidence, like dates and times of incidents and e-mails that support your claims.

Day to Day Handling

Though you may want to see the person fired, chances are the two of you will still need to work together, at least while everything is sorted out. “Your best bet is to stay professional and not share too much information because you don’t want that to be used against you…keep records of all your activities and have an email trail.” It’s not fun to have to do that. In a perfect world, we’d get along swimmingly with our co-workers, but “sometimes you need to be willing to be proactive,” says O’Donnell.

Don’t Stoop

You’re frustrated with the situation and backstabber. It’s understandable. Take the high road when it comes to speaking about the situation with your colleagues. “If we’re spreading negative information about a colleague around the office, we’re gossiping, too. It’s best to keep that out of the office.” Vent to your spouse or a friend who doesn’t work for your company. If you have one or two co-workers you know you can trust, O’Donnell suggests making sure they are the types of people who will help you move forward, not feed your anger.

When to Leave

O’Donnell is a firm believer that with the right approach to advocating for yourself and a management team that can help correct backstabbing behavior, these types of situations are fixable. Though she hates to see someone leave a company because of a negative workplace environment, sometimes it has to happen. If you truly feel you have carried yourself in the right way, gone up the ladder and still nothing has changed, it may be time to consider leaving. “If it starts impacting your productivity, professionalism or your personal health, that’s when it gets to, ‘is this job really worth it?’” O’Donnell says. That’s a tough call only you can make.