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| No. 10 | 
Nov 06, 2009, 03:06 AM
 Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
I think the country has gone crazy over this flu business, I think the flu has intentionally been released into circulation by those who have an interest in testing the Constitution and who want to intentionally decrease the population, I think it is a very scary time in American history.
I think employers who want to fire those who are sick more than a certain chosen number of days should try living by those rules themselves. Since they are salaried, since they are bosses, who monitors their own attendance? Humm? Same with tardiness. Salaried bosses often, often, often leave early, come late. I know they also work early and late, work on weekends, etc. But they themselves probably could not live on the strict tardiness rules they require of the rest of us. I know the rules are invoked against those they want to get rid of, not those who violate but are popular - at least today.
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Nov 06, 2009, 06:10 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy Originally Posted by mcpkin  The hospital where I work has recently changed our attendance policy. In that policy they re-enforced that you can only miss 6 days of work per year, and after you miss so many days you will be warned, then counseled then terminated. Just weeks prior to our new attendance policy, they tell you if you have a fever of 100.F or above coupled with either a sore throat or cough, you will have to stay home for seven days. I think they picked a bad time to tighten the attendance policy, as we are all concerned of the H1N1 spreading. I understand that people call in alot, however, are we now going to have staff coming to work sick because they don’t have enough PTO to stay home. We are a seasonal hospital, with census high in winter and low during summer months. I just wanted to get some opinions. 
I recently saw an informal--read non-scientific--poll on a newspaper web site asking about what you would do if you just didn't want to go to work on any particular day.
Just short of 50% said they would call out sick.
As I said this poll was neither scientific nor restricted to nurses. It does indicate a lot of people willing to lie about being sick to get a day off.
So, it's no real wonder that employers are cracking down on absences.
| | No. 12 |
Nov 06, 2009, 06:11 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
As the saying goes "penny wise and dollar foolish". Essentially they are saying they would rather save sure pennies over a long period of time and take the risk of losing an unknown amount of dollars if any.
Said another way they are not concerned about legitimate illnesses but trying to prevent the mental health days that the bean counters feel we always take.
| | No. 13 |
Nov 06, 2009, 11:38 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
What if you are late to work? If we are even one minute late, it counts as half of a sick day. Of course, this doesn't count for salaried employees since they don't have to punch in.
| | No. 14 |
Nov 06, 2009, 04:30 PM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
Our attendance policy is similar. An absence is 1 point, tardy is 1/2 point, forgetting to punch 1/2 point, etc. And after so many points you get a verbal, then a written warning and so on and it can eventually lead to termination.
The one good thing is that we were required to get the seasonal and H1N1 vaccine or sign a declination form. If you got the vaccines you are except from the point system if you do indeed get the flu and I also believe if a family member gets the flu and you need to take time off you are also exempt from getting points.
| | No. 15 |
Nov 07, 2009, 02:51 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy Originally Posted by OldnurseRN I'm wondering if a number of you didn't get the flu vaccines?
I got the seasonal flu vaccine, but I really had to push for it. There's a huge shortage in my area. I work in LTC; employees and residents aren't being offered the H1N1 vaccine because the elderly are a low-risk group.
| | No. 16 |
Nov 07, 2009, 03:55 AM
 Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
First of all, get a copy of the old policy and the new policy. Analyze the differences for possible reasons for the change.
Not blowing my horn here, but I just got someone out of predismissal for attendance issues. In the past she had big problems, but things sort of went hush hush while she accrued sick leave as demanded. Then one day, she was LATE. And she called ahead and said she was late, but would be there. And then out of the blue...
She was on the verge of being terminated. I proposed to HR that she be put in a probationary status, and I did that because there was no getting around this girl's history. The head of HR for the entire state compromised from 24 to 18 months, but as i understand it she cannot be late as part of the program. Nor can she go into LWOP status. When I explained this to the employee, she was over the moon. I advised her to think about her shift beginning 15 minutes ahead of normal, and frame it in her mind that way. I have not had a chance to look up the draft agreement that HR is putting together that we both have to sign. It has to be airtight.
Lateness happens. You wrap your head around a start time and how long it takes you to get there. So to combat the possibility you know your official start time, you have to get used to the fact that you need to be there earlier than that. For absences, get the paperwork in place showing you have a condition (H1N1 maybe) requiring you might have to take off to care for a child with pneumonis Oor a child with diabetes or cystic fibrosis, or even behavioral issues, or your own mental health, or WHATEVER. I've see ONE employee blow her last chance agreement. One month before it was up she took a painkiller on one of her days off. That was the end of her job, even though she'd been a model employee and never impaired on the job. I was incredulous that my own stupid union let this LCA go through without an end date. At some point anyone with any kind of issue needs to be assured that they will no longer be in perpetual boiling water with management again. Originally Posted by cardiacmadeline What if you are late to work? If we are even one minute late, it counts as half of a sick day. Of course, this doesn't count for salaried employees since they don't have to punch in. | | No. 17 |
Nov 07, 2009, 03:59 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy Originally Posted by Vito Andolini I think the country has gone crazy over this flu business, I think the flu has intentionally been released into circulation by those who have an interest in testing the Constitution and who want to intentionally decrease the population, I think it is a very scary time in American history.
I think employers who want to fire those who are sick more than a certain chosen number of days should try living by those rules themselves. Since they are salaried, since they are bosses, who monitors their own attendance? Humm? Same with tardiness. Salaried bosses often, often, often leave early, come late. I know they also work early and late, work on weekends, etc. But they themselves probably could not live on the strict tardiness rules they require of the rest of us. I know the rules are invoked against those they want to get rid of, not those who violate but are popular - at least today.
So true, so true.
| | No. 18 |
Nov 07, 2009, 05:15 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy
I do believe most hospitals count it as one absence for each call in. So if you are sick and need to be out 2+ days that is only one absence and one point..NOT one point for each day missed.
If you break it down and lets say you can be off 7 absences in a rolling year. That works out to one absence every 2 months with 1 left over. You work 24 shifts every 2 months therefore if you call in more than once every 24 shifts there is a problem....if it is due to a chronic illness than whoever talked about FMLA has a great point because FMLA does cover you however I feel if you do not have a chronic illness which prevents you from going to work if you are consistently unreliable less than 23 days out of 60 days then it should be a issue.
Lorelei,
Why was she terminated if she took a pain pill on one of her days off?
| | No. 19 |
Nov 08, 2009, 12:33 AM
Re: Hospital changes attendance policy Originally Posted by Kymmi I do believe most hospitals count it as one absence for each call in. So if you are sick and need to be out 2+ days that is only one absence and one point..NOT one point for each day missed.
If you break it down and lets say you can be off 7 absences in a rolling year. That works out to one absence every 2 months with 1 left over. You work 24 shifts every 2 months therefore if you call in more than once every 24 shifts there is a problem....if it is due to a chronic illness than whoever talked about FMLA has a great point because FMLA does cover you however I feel if you do not have a chronic illness which prevents you from going to work if you are consistently unreliable less than 23 days out of 60 days then it should be a issue.
Lorelei,
Why was she terminated if she took a pain pill on one of her days off?
Without getting into too much detail, she had an arrest for DUI which was pretty bad, and had been in the nurse monitoring program on and off for years, so she was on the chopping block until the union intervened and got her back with a Last Chance Agreement. Following that for a year she'd been subjected to random U/A's, had to participate in a 12 step program and provide documentation, and was always clean. One weekend she took a very strong opiate derivative that she'd had left over from an old scrip (if it were current, that would be okay) due to some shoulder pain that she couldn't get rid of. She never even thought about what might happen if she were called to come down to the lab for a U/A the following week. But of course, she was, and her dirty U/A got her fired for violating her Last Chance Agreement. Understand that her work performance was always stellar -- wasn't like she was stealing from the narc drawer or coming to work three sheets to the wind.
For whatever reason, our HR department chose not to report her termination to the Board. She still has an active license and hopefully a job somewhere. I wish HR would focus on the work we do, not what happens on our own time. Working as a nurse or a CNA in a psych hospital is incredibly stressful. Most of my co-workers have Axis I diagnoses and sometimes Axis II diagnoses (PTSD) as well. Comes with the territory.
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