Firing employees who refuses to come into work.

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

I told my boss 2 months in advance that I start School in January so she could find someone to work on the days I wanted off. She's said she works around people's schedule who goes to school. There is a big problem with people refusing to pull double shift so only a selective few works double shifts. At the last meeting, the boss said anyone who calls in or comes in late or refused to work when needed gets a point and after 5 points you're fired. The person who calls in sick goes to the top of the list and will be the first one to be call when someone needs to be replaced. My question is can they really fire you for refusing to work for someone? They make ridiculous rules! Once an employee's family member died so he got a point for missing a day of work. I don't see how they can do this. I'll take a point for refusing to work because I need time off to study for school. I pull my share of doubles and fed up with all the bull that comes with the CNA job. Most of the girls are lazy and the majority of the work gets done by me, a whole different problem. I keep my head held high knowing this job isn't permanent and ill move on to better things.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I told my boss 2 months in advance that I start School in January so she could find someone to work on the days I wanted off. She's said she works around people's schedule who goes to school. There is a big problem with people refusing to pull double shift so only a selective few works double shifts. At the last meeting, the boss said anyone who calls in or comes in late or refused to work when needed gets a point and after 5 points you're fired. The person who calls in sick goes to the top of the list and will be the first one to be call when someone needs to be replaced. My question is can they really fire you for refusing to work for someone? They make ridiculous rules! Once an employee's family member died so he got a point for missing a day of work. I don't see how they can do this. I'll take a point for refusing to work because I need time off to study for school. I pull my share of doubles and fed up with all the bull that comes with the CNA job. Most of the girls are lazy and the majority of the work gets done by me, a whole different problem. I keep my head held high knowing this job isn't permanent and ill move on to better things.

Did your boss tell YOU that she'd work with YOU around YOUR school schedule? If she did, did you get it in writing? I'm not sure I understand the problem. Did she say she'd work with your school schedule and then didn't?

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The Question was can an employee get fired for refusing to work for someone who called in sick. The Boss calls us to work for someone about every other day because someone quits, gets fired, or lays out of work. She said she'd work around my school schedule but did not get it in writing. I go to school Monday through Thursday and works Thursday through Sunday so I have time off from work to study. Guess I am inundate with work of school, work, and life and feel overwhelm. Both college and work are important to ameliorate my life.

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I am in the same boat right now. When I got hired I was told that they would work around my school schedule and if I ever felt overwhelmed that I could decrease my work days and have more days off. Well I've been here for 5 months and things have been fine until just recently. We have had people quitting and calling in like crazy. And instead of hiring new CNAs, they decide to just keep asking everybody to work doubles everyday. I work the 2-10 shift, and the other night I came in on my only day off to work to cover for someone from 2-5, but at 4 I got asked by my supervisor to stay and work the whole shift. Well then at the end of my shift we were all told that someone from night shift just called in sick and that someone from our shift would have to stay and cover it. All of my coworkers said they could not stay and the nurses tried to tell me that I could lose my job if I didn't stay and work. But I kindly explained to them that I would gladly talk to my boss in the morning if this is how I was going to be treated. I put school ahead of my job. I am not going to be a CNA forever. When I got hired they knew that I was in nursing school and I was hired for evening shift. There is no way they can require me to stay and work from 2pm-6am and then go straight to school all day. So I called my boss at 11pm to wake her up and make her deal with it. She told the nurses that one of them would be required to stay if no CNAs are available.

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They can fire you for anything... however.... if they truly don't tell you that you're on call and then call and tell you that you have to come in and fire you because you don't, you'll for sure get unemployment. As far as school, get EVERYthing in writing. I only work weekends, but I still have "recurring unavailability" for Mondays and Wednesdays for school. This is in our scheduling system and I have it printed off that it's approved. I figure you just never know what's going to happen, so that's my safety net lol.

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The nursing home I work at has a point system too. You earn a single point against you on a normal day (M-F) and on weekends or holidays, you get two points. Points are per incident. So if you are sick for a couple of days on a Monday and Tuesday, for example, it is still just one point. The points stay on your record for a period of time before going away. Or you can work them off by coming in early if you are asked to, staying late (either mandatory for a double shift or just asked if things are getting extra busy), or if you work on a day not scheduled (doesn't work if you switch a shift with a coworker or take one of their shifts, it has to be a supervisor thing). "Won" points are less than lost points, as you get 1/2 back on a normal day and 1 on a weekend/holiday.

Each time you come early, stay late, or come in, your name is moved to the bottom of "the list" they keep that determines who HAS to stay if a double is necessary. So it pays to come in an extra two hours rather than take the risk of a 16 hour shift. Though I am in school too, sometimes it isn't possible. The people who never do the 'extra' stuff are at the top of the list when it comes to mandatory double. There is no hemming and hawwing at who can and can't stay, the nurse sees who is up to bat, and they stay, end of story.

The point system works quite well where I am. After a certain number of points, you get a 'talking' to do make sure you are OK, if you're still motivated for the job, etc. When I was out sick for darn near a week, I didn't get that talk, but I also told them that I had a copy of everything from every doctor's appointment to prove I wasn't making it up.

I'm not saying you need to become callous. But you truly are allowed to say NO unless you are on call (and most CNA's aren't). Sometimes it is a huge help if you can come in, but you aren't the only one who works there. You need your time off, too!

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it seems that your work has to take these messures because from what you are saying that many of your coworkers are not taking their turns when it comes to having them come in early or stay late. The company has to try their best to fill these shifts and they probably feel they need to get harder on the rules so the place will run the way it is suppose to. If you are doing your part then don't worry to much about it. do your best, and try not to take these new rules as an attack, and take things too personal. I also agree with the others and see if you can get it in writing that you get time off for studying.

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I agree with everyone's post. Getting everything in writing is the best way to protect oneself. although I don't want anyone in a bad situation, It's good to hear from people in the same situation. They just fired a girl for bashing the company on facebook so another one bites the dust. Risking my life to go to a underpaid job at CH is not worth it is not really bashing the company. It was a negative comment but she never said they were a bad company just that she was under paid and not worth taking a chance with her life to drive in the snow. This is a lesson to never post anything on facebook.

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Unfortunately an employer can fire anyone they want at any time for any reason, or no reason at all. My husband does factory work and most of his jobs have used a point system, they don't care why you miss a day, you still get a point. They were going to give everyone in the factory a point last week because they had to shut down for snow but, decided not too. They have mandatory overtime too and get fired if they miss.

Luckily we have it a little better in healthcare but, your employer can pretty much make you work any schedule they want and fire you if you don't. They can refuse you unemployment too, my husband got fired for getting 5 points at his last job and couldn't receive overtime because he "violated the attendance policy" and that made him ineligible for unemployment.

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It's better to risk others people health than risk your duty?

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I agree with everyone's post. Getting everything in writing is the best way to protect oneself. although I don't want anyone in a bad situation, It's good to hear from people in the same situation. They just fired a girl for bashing the company on facebook so another one bites the dust. Risking my life to go to a underpaid job at CH is not worth it is not really bashing the company. It was a negative comment but she never said they were a bad company just that she was under paid and not worth taking a chance with her life to drive in the snow. This is a lesson to never post anything on facebook.

Maybe they fired her because of her poor attitude toward attendance during bad weather?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I told my boss 2 months in advance that I start School in January so she could find someone to work on the days I wanted off. She's said she works around people's schedule who goes to school. There is a big problem with people refusing to pull double shift so only a selective few works double shifts. At the last meeting, the boss said anyone who calls in or comes in late or refused to work when needed gets a point and after 5 points you're fired. The person who calls in sick goes to the top of the list and will be the first one to be call when someone needs to be replaced. My question is can they really fire you for refusing to work for someone? They make ridiculous rules! Once an employee's family member died so he got a point for missing a day of work. I don't see how they can do this. I'll take a point for refusing to work because I need time off to study for school. I pull my share of doubles and fed up with all the bull that comes with the CNA job. Most of the girls are lazy and the majority of the work gets done by me, a whole different problem. I keep my head held high knowing this job isn't permanent and ill move on to better things.

​They can't make you come in if you don't get the message; get an answering machine. Also, if you're expected to drop what you're doing to come in, then you should be paid on-call. You are not at their beck and call just because you work for them.

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