cheated by hospital?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi there! Just wanted to vent a little...

I was hired on to work 11-11, and a nurse who was hired a week before I was for the same shift got moved to 7a-7p immediately upon starting. I put in my request for the a-p shift when one came open, and when that nurse put in her notice to transfer to another department, I was told with 99% certainty that I would have the a-p shift, since I was the only one who had requested it. When the schedule that was supposed to show that came out, the nurse manager called me in her office and told me she had given the shift to someone else who hadn't requested it to be fair to them.

Recently, I began considering other positions either (1) more family friendly in terms of shift hours or (2) a shorter commute since I was driving an hour one way to work 10:30 am till 11 pm in an ED. I wanted first to explore a possible departmental transfer within the same hospital, but positions are frozen ("low census", they say. B**lS**t. Census is higher than ever.) She asked for that transfer request in writing, so I gave it to her. Well, since I wanted to transfer and nothing was open, I told her I likely would be looking for something else and wouldn't be around after the first of the year. I did this to be fair to her, just to give her a "heads up". BIG MISTAKE. They decided that I had made a legally binding verbal contract to resign January 2 (scheduled to work New Year's), and they cut my benefits off without telling me. That is not in the handbook. I was out sick ONE TIME (the ONLY time I ever called in and I was justified in that, provided an ER note and all) just this past Saturday and I had earlier requested my TksGvg, Christmas, and New Year's Holidays to cover a week I was scheduled off this month and that was denied. Seems Human Resources has this unwritten policy that if you submit your resignation (which I still insist I had NOT done), you get no more sick time at all and no holidays within 4 weeks of your last day (even if you work those holidays). WELL! I couldn't afford that, and I told the nurse manager so Tuesday when she informed me of all this. I told her it may mean I will have to go to another job before the holidays because I can't afford to have a half a paycheck AND one that's a 12 hour day short in the same month - and here at Christmas time, too! She assured me that she understood, and told me if I needed to leave earlier, just make sure I give her appropriate notice so she can cover it, which I would do anyway. Well, I found a job 10 minutes from my home, and I feel very positively about it so I turned in a nice resignation letter (I didn't tell them what I wanted to say, just a nice one) yesterday morning when I went in to work - a full two weeks' notice. At 4pm the Human Resources director came down and told me that since my resignation date was sooner than they expected, that it was in their best interest for me to clock out and go home, that I was finished!

Fortunately, I discussed this with my new employer today and she recounted for me a story about her own experience with her last employer - she had been at that hospital in supervision and then management for 19 years and yet, 4 days before her last day, the VP came to her with a false accusation and gave her 30 minutes to get her stuff and leave. Thankfully, I was placed on the schedule to start next week and so my first paycheck will be a full one, leaving me in better stead than if I had worked out my notice. It's also a nice, small community hospital where I can be a nurse again, not just a liability and a paper-pusher and a drug-pusher.

Is this a new trend? Is it not bad enough that hospitals (excuse me. not hospitals, but "Regional Medical Centers") are treating us like slaves at work (now they have QUOTAS!!??!), but they have to screw you every other way they can find to as well? What is going on? I was shaken, hurt, insulted, betrayed,angry - hell, I experienced every range of emotion that exists, I think. The irony of it is that the nurse mgr wanted to make clear with the HR mgr that I was leaving in good standing and am eligible for re-hire if I ever wanted to come back. Like I would EVER darken that doorstep again.

Maybe they just want to have the last word? Like "how dare you" think that anything else could be better than them? Anybody else experienced this kind of thing? I know you have. Corporate attitudes in hospitals predispose managers to this kind of thing. It's always nice to know you're not alone.

Babs

[This message has been edited by babs_rn (edited December 01, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by babs_rn (edited December 01, 2000).]

Good Lord; what a story! I believe that if you ever DID show up again on their doorstep, you CERTAINLY wouldn't DARKEN it; you would most certainly BRIGHTEN it, and they should be DAMN grateful they had you for ANY amount of time, with management techniques like that! I hope your new employer appreciates you. Best of luck!

Hi babsrn. How long did you work at this facility? Georgia, I believe, is a right to work state. This employer probably has an at will policy. That is the reason they can ask you to leave in spite of the fact you did not resign in writing. The resignation letter they requested may or may not be in your favor in that you would not be recorded as being fired or abandoning your position. However, I do know some applications have a question about whether a potential employee was forced out of a job. I don't know if that would be true in your case since your resignation is due to another job opportunity. Honestly, I would like to know someone else's opinion on this. You're right that the employer wanted to maintain the upper hand in this. It may not be important, but are you eligible for rehire? Where you there long enough to get job evaluations? Where they good? Wonder how this would have been handled in a unionized situation. Your harsh treatment is unfortunate. Employers demonstrate increasing subtle (sometimes not so subtle) crudeness in dealing with employees. It's to the point where nurses need a lawyer to deal with employers. Best wishes on your new job.

Hi Babsrn

The only thing missing from this story is the name of the armpit you used to work for, so all the other nurses here can steer clear.

I had a nurse manager like that once. She ended up contracting resistant TB. Amazing what Kharma can do to you.

By the way I think it was your nurse mgr and not HR with the axe

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Eat, Sleep, Save Lives

Specializes in Leadership/Critical Care/Surgery/Seniors.

Sometimes I get frustrated with the unionized mentality that we have, but I can tell you...none of that would have happened should you have been working in a union environment (in Canada anyway). Good luck!

babs: I have heard similar stories. I don't know where they find these managers and how do they sleep at night? Thank God they did you a favor by in effect firing you. No telling how they would have arranged to impair your license had you tried to work out your "contract". Best wishes!

Hi, and thanks so much for the encouraging replies..it's a facility in Georgia that recently built a new hospital and I noticed the attitude changes once we moved into it - it was a nice place to work before that. Yes, I had been there long enough to get evaluations, and yes they were all good, and I have a good letter of recommendation from my nurse manager that made it easier to get this new position. And yes, I am eligible for re-hire. I think it just may be punishment for leaving now, right before the holidays but as I said before, I cannot afford to miss 48 hours of pay in ANY given month, especially not December - I'm a child support paying non-custodial mom. Another single mom who works there is also looking for another job because she drives from another town and had been working 7a-7p, arriving to work at 6:40 am which is the earliest she can get there because of day care hours - they recently changed the rules so that 7-7 shifts have to arrive at 6:30 and they told her if she couldn't get there at 6:30 (she can't) then they would put her on the 11-11 shift (which is impossible for her to work because she's a single mom!) That leaves one more single mom to single out before they have effectively gotten rid of us all.

It's just amazing to me, in a time when nurses are needed so much, that any facility would treat us this way. But, then, that's that slave mindset they have when it comes to us, and the fact that they want to own the nurses' souls on and off duty.

Thanks again

Babs

Originally posted by MissCheevusRN:

Hi Babsrn

The only thing missing from this story is the name of the armpit you used to work for, so all the other nurses here can steer clear.

I had a nurse manager like that once. She ended up contracting resistant TB. Amazing what Kharma can do to you.

By the way I think it was your nurse mgr and not HR with the axe

Well, I don't wish ill on anyone, but I do believe in Karma or divine justice or whatever you want to call it. Your suggestion about my nurse mgr is plausible - she is the type to "buddy-buddy" with you and then pull the old bait-and-switch, so to speak. Let HR take the fall so she doesn't look bad, I guess. I do have this massive sense of relief that I don't have to go back there anymore, I will say that.

Babs

Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

Babs...et al

I'm not surprised by your story as I have expirienced/ heard this story many time. It was one of the reasons that I now work in a Unionized environment, not all roses but at least the rules cannot be changed at will. Unfotuneately you were and probably still are an employee at will. Given Ga. is a right to work state nothing much will probably change. On the brighter side that regional medical center will soon become the employer of last resort. Patients will soon follow the RN's elsewhere. Tell your fellow nurses your story whenever they ask you about going to work there (be discreet).

The attitude that RN's are slaves to the instution they work for is unfortuneately widespread.Just look at the mandatory OT issue for example.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!!

Welcome to the world of (MIS)Managed Care... SEE why I left?!? MAN has nursing EVER changed.... Linda/RN

[email protected]

This is off the topic slightly...

My work issue currently is constantly being asked to come in on my days off b/c someone called in sick. I have a life outside of work, in fact I work a second part-time job. I feel my work crossed the line when they called me at my second job to ask if I would come work for them (meaning I would I have to leave my second job early to fill in for them). What is the purpose of a prn pool if I am constantly hounded to work overtime?

babs, I feel so bad for your having to endure those type of working conditions even for a day. It sounds like it may have been a blessing in disguise in that it propelled you toward a more positive working environment all the sooner. Enjoy the holidays and best of luck with your new job! Shannon

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"The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."-Johan Ruskin

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