[Tony35NYC]

I agree with above posts, I'd quit that job if I were you. Sounds like a pretty nasty place to be.

[Da Monk]

Triage RN 34, RUN, RUN, RUN as soon as you can. You are in jeopardy. It sounds as if you practice in a gulag. All is set up to place blame for anything perceived as a negative situation on the staff. Report the place to your BON and the Labor Board. Seek out a labor attorney. Someone there is running rampant over you rights. If you all left, you would have management all writing one another up. And if the staff disappeared, so would that new management "team". You are in a no-win situation. It is really upsetting for me to hear about situations such as this. That employer is working from a 1930's mindset.

[VickyRN]

Originally Posted by TennNurse

I am totally at a loss as to how best to deal with this. Even if I knew who else to go to, I'm always at work and don't want to ask permission from my manager for time off the floor to go complain about her and her boss. Three other people who started the same time I did have had similar experiences, and one told me, "My interview was a complete fabrication." I've learned (surprise, surprise) that this floor has long had an extremely high turnover rate. While I'd ideally like to honor my contract (anything else will cost me my bonus), certainly no statements made to me have been honored. I started out liking this job, and feel more miserable, exhausted, stressed, frustrated, and paranoid every day. I realize I've been lucky to have previously worked with honest and fair employers, and I have no reference for this kind of treatment. I enjoy working with most of my co-workers. My patients have filled out several comment cards on the excellent care they've gotten from me, and when I'm allowed to take care of them the way I learned to, I'm happy.
I ask all battle-wise nurses present for your input.

I agree with the other posters, RUN, don't walk, as fast as you can, away from there!!!!

[TennNurse]

Wow, if we had the sense of support and community on my floor that exists on this board!! Thank all of you so much for your timely responses. It's amazing to me how we don't realize how awful our own situations are till we run them by people outside of them.


I plan to see an agency on Wednesday that comes highly recommended by a nurse I trust. I've worked agency before, and I love the insulation from local politics, plus the pay is more than twice what I make now. For a lot of reasons, I don't want to burn all my bridges at this hospital yet (it's our town's only one, and the largest employer in the area) and I do go to church with several nurses who work in other departments, without all this garbage, and are much happier. I had planned to talk to my manager sometime this month and tell her I want to go part-time, due to exhaustion and the falling through of promises made during my interview process. I figured this way I can avoid totally violating my contract. There are a lot of things more important than money, but when I saw my first paycheck after all this overtime and calculated how little I was being paid (I'm talking mid-teens!!) I decided that if I was going to be at work this much, I was danged sure going to have more to show for it.

Thanks again for all your responses. I will keep you updated!

[ncamille]

TennNurse,

Your post is well written and succint. You could take it, as written, to your manager's supervisor. At the very least you could print it up and use it as your resignation letter. It will then be a permanent part of your file. I agree that your sign on bonus will probably never materialize even if you fulfill the contract. So staying there just isn't worth it unless you think being up-front with management might make a change. Of course if you force them to honor what they promised you in the interview, and rectify your evaluations, you will be the only one, and will then be an object of misplaced anger from your coworkers.

Good luck.

[WyomingRN]

I guess my thoughts are a little different. Before you "run", consult an attorney. I think these situation are great for suits on grounds of misrepresentation and breach of contract; especially if other in the same facility have the same experiences.

If nurses started filing such suits, facilities would have to start thinking before promising the moon just to get you in the door. Generally, the first consultation with an attorney is free. I try to set up an appointment with two or three different attorneys to get more than one possible point of view.

You never know - they may agree to let you go and let you keep the bonus just to prevent a suit.

Until nurses quit running and start standing up in these situations, the practice will continue.

[Haunted]

Is this a used car lot or a hospital?

[canoehead]

were the terms of your bonus in writing? If so, were any of the other promises on that piece of paper? If so you could claim that they broke the agreement first and you are under no obligation to return the bonus. It would cost them more for the lawyer to get it back than they would receive by going after you.

If the terms of the bonus were not in writing, there is NO reason why you are obligated to pay up!

I think that in any case you need to move on as they may well put your license in jeopardy, through no fault of yours. Get out.

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Nurse Ratched

They suck. You need to leave.

Ditto what Ratched said.

[Hellllllo Nurse]

Why does anyone put up with this kind of stuff?

I was in a similar situation and I left.

My only regret is that I didn't leave sooner.


As soon as I found out my orientation was beiing cut in half, and my pay would be $1.50 less than I'd been told, I would have been out of there.