Unethical Hiring Practices

[sophie12]

Hi,

I just found this site and thought it might be a good area to get some feedback in. I am an RN with many years of experience in a particular specialty area. I worked for many years at a particular hospital and following encouragement from my husband decided to check out a hospital that was nearer to our home. I had been in a supervisor capacity at the first hospital as well as a nurse educator. I received immediate (next morning) response from the second hospital department manager, followed by a nursing recruiter later that day, who quoted a sign on bonus as well as hourly rate. Following an interview I was immediately offered the position (as a staff nurse) and accepted it. I received a written offer of the position and sign on bonus a week later (the sign on bonus was different than originally quoted). I gave notice of many weeks to the first hospital. On the SECOND day of employment (morning of the first night position I was to work) I received a call from nurse recruiter stating there were two problems - 1) the hourly rate she gave me was too high, and I was going to have to take a substantial reduction - sorry, her fault, but nothing she could do about it since this is a union hospital. Stated that she had "just" caught this. Please realize that this number would have been looked at my many many eyes prior to it being offered, and that I spoke with this woman on 6 separate occasions prior to my start date, and again on my start date. The second was a discrepancy in the payout of the sign on bonus - it was originally quoted as in two dispursements, then in the written offer letter it was in quarters. I spoke to her about this and she had stated it was a mistake, and changed it back to two dispursements (she rewrote it and we both signed). On SECOND day of employment she stated it was supposed to have been in quarters (now forth time it was changed). I informed her we had already signed the contract on the sign on bonus, and that I WOULD NOT have come to this hospital at the hourly rate she was now telling me I would have to accept. :nono:I have since found out that I am not the first nurse this hospital has done this to (suspected it, and then had it confirmed by extremely reliable source). They have an extremely difficult time getting nurses d/t location (and hiring practice????). Has anyone else had this happen to them?? If so, did you pursue recourse on the hospital or let it go and accept the lower wage scale? I resigned and am seriously considering pursuing this - especially to stop this from ever happening to any other nurse coming to this hospital!!!! Many nurses coming here would have no option but to accept the lower wage d/t relocation to accept the position in the first place.

Would really appreciate some feedback out there, and any thoughts on this!!!

Sophie12

[debgirl71]

i would so pursue this. start with your local labor board.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I personally, wouldn't pursue it..I would be trying to get a job back at the hospital that I just left.

If this is the way that they treat new employees, where they have to result in lying to get you to come to work for them, then it is not a place that I would want to work.

No one wants to start a new job with a battle on their hands.

PS: I find it very difficult to believe that the nurse recruiter did not know what the union would permit as payment.

[Angel0411]

Try to get the he** out of there. That is a bad sign! If you did get the rate changed..your time there would probably be miserable for going against the staff so early.

[theatredork]

First off, you signed a contract with the hospital for a set hourly rate and sign-on bonus. You signed it and the hospital signed it. From what little I know of contract law, it's a binding agreement. They can't change the terms of the contract at will.

It sounds illegal, and I would pursue it. The only way things change is for people to stand up for themselves.

Best of luck.

[eXtraOrdinaire]

Disclaimer: I am not a nurse or a medical professional.

From what I know about labor the price that the quote you in the contract is what they have to pay you. They cannot renegotiate the price after the contract is signed unless you agreed. They would have to terminate your employment and have you sign a new contract. I'm not sure if this illegal but I would differently talk to the department of professional regulations in your state. Call the department of Labor as well and have them look into this. From what I understand they should be very interested if the number of complaints from this hospital continue to rise.

[367tank]

You don't mention the hospital. Why?

I would like to know so when I am finished nursing school I will stay away from that facility.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

First off, you signed a contract with the hospital for a set hourly rate and sign-on bonus. You signed it and the hospital signed it. From what little I know of contract law, it's a binding agreement. They can't change the terms of the contract at will.

It sounds illegal, and I would pursue it. The only way things change is for people to stand up for themselves.

Best of luck.

You are most likely correct. But the "catch" for the OP is going to be this: She has a contract for her pay but not for a length of employment.

If she persues it, and will most likely win, she may be facing the distinct possibility of being in an employment situation where they will do everything they can to get rid of her...legally.

She has to decide if she is willing to risk that.

If she is, I say go get 'em girl!

[caliotter3]

I would only pursue it with a complaint to the labor board. If you were to win a legal action, you would not want to work there to face future retaliation. Instead, use every opportunity in networking to get the word out to other unsuspecting job seekers. If this info had been well disseminated, you never would have considered leaving a sure thing to be treated this way. Good luck getting something else. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to be able to return to your former employer.

[Pepperlady]

The hospital breached thier contract, the OP has a right, as far as I am concerned, to persue legal action against them for breach of contract.

[Night Owl RN]

The hospital will not have breached the contract until you worked and they issued a paycheck that reflected the lower wages. What they are trying to do is force a resigning of the contract to reflect these lower wages. When that happens, they have not broken any laws and cannot be held accountable for anything in a court of law. They are only guilty of unethical business practices. Of course, if you did sign under those conditions, the contract might be invalid because you were coerced and you signed under duress.

Resigning or caving in were your only two options and I believe you exercised the proper option. If all new hires who encountered this treatment did the same, the hospital might have to re-think the policy. I hope you report this to the labor dept of your state, maybe the state attorney general and any other organization that may have an interest in this sort of activity. If this hospital continues such practices, other hospitals may adopt similar ones and we, as nurses, will really have a mess on our hands. Unfortunately, such things have been occurring in the business world for a long time. It's a shame to see this slime spreading to the more humanitarian professions.

Good luck on re-establishing your life. :)

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I'd first ensure that I can go back to my old job and from there, I would pursue this. The facility in question probably has a high turnover rate for the above reasons you mentioned plus more under the carpet that you probably did not see.