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- Employee Assistance Program, G.O. No. 2.3.20 Page 1 ALBANY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT 165 HENRY JOHNSON BOULEVARD ALBANY, NEW YORK 12210 EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM GENERAL ORDER NO: 2.3.20 Issue Date: September 13, 2015 Effective Date: April 28, 2004 Revision Date: N/A CALEA: 22.1.7 Volume 2: Logistics Chapter 3: Personnel Distribution: All Personnel NYSLEAP: N/A Issuing Authority: Chief Eric Hawkins Page: 1 of 5 PURPOSE: The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for the availability and use of the Employee Assistance Program by Albany Police Department personnel who are suffering from personal, job related, or health problems that adversely affect their lives, their families, or their job performance. These personal concerns may include, but are not limited to, health, marital status, family, financial, substance abuse, emotional/stress, and other personal matters. POLICY: It is the policy of the Albany Police Department to recognize the numerous pressures of the law enforcement profession on its employees. The department shall endeavor to assist employees by providing an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and encourage referrals to the team for support and assistance. DEFINITIONS: Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Employee Assistance Program means a program that is intended to assist employees who are suffering from persistent problems that may tend to jeopardize the employee’s and/or physical well-being. The goal of this program is to help individuals who have developed problems by providing services for consultation, treatment, and rehabilitation in order to prevent their condition from progressing to a degree that will prevent the employee from functioning effectively in the workplace. I. EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM A. Training/Education: 1. Training and education shall include areas in stress management, which shall be presented at both the recruit and in service levels; 2. Supervisors and EAP Peer Coordinators shall also receive training in the program services, supervisor's role and responsibility, and identification of employee behaviors which would indicate the existence of employee concerns, problems and/or issues that could impact employee job performance; 3. Pre-incident education and stress inoculation; 4. Providing information on community resources dealing with other health related issues, upon request; and 5. Educating employees about the dangers of substance abuse. Eric Hawkins Chief of Police 1789 ---PAGE BREAK--- - Employee Assistance Program, G.O. No. 2.3.20 Page 2 B. Referral Information: 1. Employees of the Albany Police Department and their supervisors may contact a member of EAP for assistance in dealing with traumatic stress. 2. Employees may also be referred to EAP or professional counselors, as determined by the Chief of Police or his/her designee. 3. Initial counseling, problem identification, short-term counseling (to include crisis intervention, peer support and service referrals) and other referrals which may assist the employee in resolving problems and offers follow up support and monitoring may be referred. 4. Referrals to services, either workplace or community resources for appropriate diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. 5. Resources for treatment of alcohol and drug abuse problems. 6. Employee assistance with services unrelated to substance abuse designed to aid in the identification, intervention and resolution of personal problems family, marital, financial, traumatic stress, stress, etc.) which may negatively impact the employee’s employment with the Albany Police Department. 7. Services shall be made timely and appropriately for assessment resources. C. Confidentiality: 1. It is the policy of the EAP to maintain confidentiality, therefore communications made to a member of EAP shall be considered confidential. 2. Exception: Communication made to a member of the EAP shall not be confidential when mandated by law or when the person is a threat to the safety of themselves or to others. II. PROCEDURES A. Duties and Services: 1. EAP Peer Coordinators may consist of a number of both sworn and non sworn employees, in addition to the Police Chaplain. a. The number of active EAP Peer Coordinators shall be determined by the Chief of Police or his/her designee, in consultation with EAP members, and based on the needs of the department and the number of available Peer Coordinators. b. One EAP Peer Coordinator shall be designated by the Chief of Police or his/her designee as the Lead Peer Coordinator, and shall be accountable to the Chief or Police or his/her designee for the operation of the Employee Assistance Program. 2. Other personnel shall be assigned to the Employee Assistance Program by the Chief of Police with the advice of the Lead Peer Coordinator and The Program Advisory Committee. 3. The Program Advisory Committee shall consist of one APOU Union ---PAGE BREAK--- - Employee Assistance Program, G.O. No. 2.3.20 Page 3 member, one APSA member, one management member, and the City-Wide EAP Coordinator. 4. Assignments to EAP shall be voluntary and will be in addition to an employee’s regularly assigned duties. 5. The EAP Lead Peer Coordinator shall identify appropriate training for members of the Employee Assistance Program, in consultation with City- Wide EAP Coordinator and the APD Training Staff. All training must be documented and submitted to the Training Unit. 6. Services of EAP shall include, but not be limited to the following: a. An initial assessment of the employee’s needs; b. Peer support intervention; c. Critical incident debriefings and defusing; d. Referral to the appropriate resource for service; e. Training for supervisors to enable them to detect stress in employees and inform them of the supervisor’s responsibility to both the department and the employee; f. Stress management techniques; g. Recruit training; h. Education on the dangers of and resources for the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse problems; i. The Albany Police Department, in coordination with APSA and APOU, will utilize EAP to support the department when rendering services to personnel and their families for, but not limited to, the following: i. Notifying the family in the event of a death or serious injury; ii. Assisting the family at the hospital; iii. Supporting the family at the funeral and burial; iv. Assisting the family with legal and benefits matters; v. Supporting the family during criminal proceedings; and vi. Maintaining contact with the family and family needs. 7. There is no cost associated with any informational or referral service which is provided by the EAP. Prior to being referred to counseling provided outside of the department, the employee will be informed whether these services are free, are covered by insurance per the employee’s respective collective bargaining unit, or require a fee. B. Referrals: 1. Voluntary Assistance: a. Request for assistance may be made at any time by contacting an EAP Peer Coordinator. i. A current list of EAP Representatives can be located on the Department Homepage under the Department Tools Tab. b. Referrals may be made by a supervisor at any level of command. c. Supervisors are not precluded from making referrals to appropriate ---PAGE BREAK--- - Employee Assistance Program, G.O. No. 2.3.20 Page 4 resources outside the department. d. Referrals to EAP may be made by union officials. Referrals may include, but are not limited to, personnel support services assisting personnel and their families following line-of-duty deaths or serious injuries). e. If an employee seeks voluntary assistance from EAP, the department shall not require any disclosure of information from the EAP Peer Coordinator, unless expressly authorized by the employee and the employee has signed a waiver. f. Given the support of confidentiality, the department will make every effort within confines of the law to preclude EAP Peer Coordinators from involvement in disciplinary proceedings involving a client. 2. Mandatory Referrals for Assistance: a. Mandatory referrals can only be made by the Chief of Police or his/her designee, after receiving all pertinent information from the employee’s supervisor(s). b. The referral must be based on significant job performance difficulty and/or shall include those situations where assistance is provided in connection with disciplinary action. c. Employees involved in a traumatic incident shootings, serious assaults, situations resulting in great personal injury to the employee, or any incident that a supervisor determines may have had greater than usual impact on the employee) shall be considered for department referrals and shall be directed to EAP. d. These referrals shall be coordinated through an EAP Peer Coordinator. 3. The above does not prevent a supervisor from relieving an employee from duty, as per current directives. 4. In the event of a mandatory referral, the Chief of Police or his/her designee may authorize administrative leave. 5. If a mandatory referral is made, the Albany Police Department has the right to receive a fitness for duty report from a qualified mental health professional before the employee returns to duty. 6. The Albany Police Department retains the right to choose an appropriate mental health professional. 7. Expenses for these referrals will be borne by the department. C. Notification: 1. Notification to the EAP Lead Peer Coordinator, or designee, shall be made as soon as possible following the below events: a. Line of duty death: b. Serious line of duty injury: c. Death of a civilian due to department operations; d. Employee suicide; e. Disaster or incidents which have mass casualties; f. Unusually tragic deaths to children; ---PAGE BREAK--- - Employee Assistance Program, G.O. No. 2.3.20 Page 5 g. Significant events where the victims are relatives or friends of employees; h. Events that attract excessive media attention; i. Events that seriously threaten the lives of employees; or j. Any event that has significant emotional power to overwhelm the employee. D. Debriefing/Records: 1. The following incidents may result in a debriefing: a. Line of duty death; b. Serious line of duty injury; c. Death of a civilian due to department operations; d. Employee suicide; e. Incidents with intense media coverage; f. Disaster or mass casualty incident; g. Death of a victim after prolonged rescue; h. Serious or unusual injury or death of a child; i. Any high risk event where life/lives of employee(s) was threatened; or j. Any other incident which provokes a significant stress response in the employees involved. 2. EAP Peer Coordinators shall be required to keep statistical records, documenting the following; a. The number of Albany Police Department employees served; b. The number of City employees served; and c. The number of employees of other law enforcement agencies served. 3. This documentation shall also include the number of hours required of the Peer Coordinator to provide services, per each of the three categories listed above. 4. The Peer Coordinators shall forward this statistical data to the Lead Peer Coordinator who shall compile all of the data and furnish it to the Chief of Police or his/her designee on a basis.